By Tom Prosser

Szymon Marciniak of Poland has been appointed to referee Wales’ World Cup play-off semi-final against Austria at the Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday.

Wales will be hoping Marciniak’s appointment is a good omen for them as he previously refereed their crucial 1-0 win away to Cyprus in 2015, which put them on the brink of qualifying for EURO 2016.

Gareth Bale headed home a later winner, but Marciniak did mysteriously rule out a David Edwards first-half goal for an apparent foul.

The Pole also refereed Wales back in 2013, when they lost 3-0 at home to Serbia in a World Cup qualifier.

The 41-year-old is one of the longest serving names on the UEFA elite list of referees and has regularly taken charge of matches in the Champions League. He was also selected to referee at Euro 2016 in France.

Last week, he refereed Villarreal’s 3-0 win over Juventus in the last 16 of the Champions League and he also refereed Liverpool’s 2-0 first leg win over Inter Milan in February.

He’s also been in the middle for five Champions League group stage matches this season- including Man United’s 3-2 win over Atlanta at Old Trafford and Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory away to Sheriff in November.

One of his most prestigious appointments to date came in 2018 when he refereed the UEFA Super Cup clash between Madrid rivals Real and Atletico in Estonia.

Marciniak will be assisted by Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz, whilst the fourth official is Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan, who oversaw Wales’ defeat to Italy at Euro 2020.

Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Bartosz Frankowski, also both from Poland, have been appointed as the VAR officials for the match.