The semi-final match of the Arab Cup held last Wednesday between the host country, Qatar, and Algeria sparked significant controversy that extended to global media. The reason for this uproar was the Polish referee, Simon Marciniak, adding 9 minutes of stoppage time, which then extended to about 17 minutes – a rare occurrence in football history. Amid numerous accusations against the Polish referee for allegedly favoring the "Qatari" team, especially after Algeria scored the equalizer in the 7th minute of stoppage time before a penalty was awarded to Algeria at the end of the match, which Youssef Belaili converted to secure a 2-1 victory, FIFA's refereeing experts surprisingly sided fully with the Polish referee. They stated that his actions were justified, highlighting the significant delays due to the Algerians celebrating their go-ahead goal as if they had "gone to Al Wakrah to celebrate," referring to a city in Qatar. They also pointed out that Baghdad Bounedjah's injury caused several minutes of delay, along with the celebrations from the Qatari side after the equalizer.
The head of FIFA's Refereeing Committee, Italian Pierluigi Collina, mentioned that the 9 minutes of stoppage time were appropriate considering the delays during the second half of the match, even suggesting that 9 minutes was too little and more time should have been added. Meanwhile, FIFA's refereeing official, Massimo Busacca, expressed his astonishment at the uproar over the Polish referee, stating that he did not act arbitrarily but applied the rules. Busacca and Collina made these remarks while participating in the "Referee" program on Qatari channel Al Kass, addressing the refereeing controversy that arose from this match.
The British newspaper "The Sun" emphasized that the Polish referee's actions were strange and unusual. It also highlighted another odd piece of news concerning the Qatari club terminating the contract of Algerian player Youssef Belaili, who scored the winning goal against Qatar, leading to the elimination of the "Qatari" team from the tournament. The newspaper noted that this was a reaction against the player, but the Qatari club denied this and stated that the contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
