The referee of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final is a convicted ‘match fixer’ who was slated by Jude Bellingham after taking management of a controversial Bundesliga match.
Felix Zwayer, who will oversee Wednesday’s Three Lions’ fixture with the Netherlands, was banned for six months after being discovered to have accepted a €300 (£253.82) bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer in a 2005 scandal.
And, after he oversaw Borussia Dortmund’s contentious 3-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in 2021 then Dortmund star Bellingham, who will play on Wednesday evening, hit out at his appointment and was subsequently fined.
‘You’ll be able to have a look at a number of the selections within the sport,’ Bellingham mentioned in a post-match TV interview.
‘You give a referee, that has match-fixed earlier than, the most important sport in Germany. What do you anticipate?’
Felix Zwayer will take cost of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final towards the Netherlands
The German official has historical past with Jude Bellingham from his time at Borussia Dortmund
The then-18-year-old Bellingham hit out at Zwayer after Dortmund’s loss to Bayern Munich
Bellingham was subsequently fined €40,000 (£33,843) and even investigated by German police, whereas Zwayer took a two-month break from officiating.
Mail Sport has contacted UEFA for remark and requested how, given the background, Zwayer might be chosen to officiate such a fixture.
UEFA declined to remark however it’s understood they’ve ‘complete confidence’ in him to referee the sport impartially and can stand by the appointment.
Zwayer, 43, was implicated in a scandal which centred round second tier boss Hoyzer, who took bribes to repair a number of matches.
Zwayer, then a linesman, assisted him in a single match and took a fee of €300 (£253.82).
He was banned from officiating for six months in a transfer that was saved quiet till German newspaper Zeit broke the story years later.
In what was a crunch Bundesliga conflict in December 2021, Zwayer turned down Dortmund appeals for a penalty and later awarded Bayern a spot-kick after deeming Mats Hummels handballed.
Robert Lewandowski transformed to present the guests a win which took them 4 factors away from Dortmund on the high of the desk.
Bayern would go on to win the league, with Dortmund second. Bellingham was 18 on the time he made the feedback and was not given a ban.
German soccer authorities launched an investigation, whereas Dortmund mentioned the membership was ‘100 per cent’ behind their participant.
Sporting director Michael Zorc mentioned: ‘It was a really emotional state of affairs, he was very disenchanted and solely named recognized info.’
Chief govt Hans-Joachim Watzke added: ‘To be clear, Jude was not spreading lies, however what occurred prior to now.
‘This assertion should not have been, however I do not see something unfaithful there. I do not anticipate that to have any penalties for Jude.’
The Zeit investigation discovered that whereas Hoyzer, who was sentenced to 2 years and 5 months in jail, Zwayer’s condo was searched and he was discovered to have behaved in a ‘grossly anti-sporting’ method.
Norwegian journalist Jan Aage Fjortoft raised questions concerning the collection of Zwayer
Zwayer was beforehand banned from officiating for six months after being discovered to have accepted a €300 (£253.82) bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer in a 2005 scandal
The probe additionally discovered Zwayer didn’t report Hoyzer’s match-fixing ‘of which he was conscious’ and that he accepted €300 (£253.82) from Hoyzer earlier than a match between SV Wuppertal and Werder Bremen Amateure in Might 2004, with a view to ‘keep away from vital conditions for Wuppertaler SV as an assistant referee’.
Munich legal decide Rainer Koch was chargeable for the case for the DFB which discovered Zwayer did take the bribe however that he had additionally contributed to fixing the case and that no intentional errors might be discovered towards him.
On the Westfalenstadion, he can be assisted by Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller, with Daniel Siebert the fourth official and Bastian Dankert as video assistant referee (VAR).
England left again Luke Shaw has denied that the selection of referee would have any affect on the semi-final.
‘By no means,’ he mentioned. ‘We’ve got to respect UEFA on whoever they resolve to choose as ref. That received’t change something for us, we simply give attention to the sport.’
The winners of the tie will face both France or Spain within the remaining on the Olympiastadion on July 14.
