Bellingham has history with semi-final referee who was banned for match fixing

England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against Netherlands tonight will be officiated by a German referee who was once banned over match-fixing and has a history with Jude Bellingham.

UEFA have confirmed Felix Zwayer will be the man in the middle for the clash against the Dutch, as England look to reach the final for the second Euros in a row.

Zwayer, 43, will lead an all-German officiating team in Dortmund alongside assistants Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller, plus VAR Bastian Dankert.

Zwayer was given a six-month ban by his country’s football federation in 2006, having worked as an assistant referee alongside Robert Hoyzer who was found guilty of match fixing.

The ref has always denied being involved in Hoyzer’s fixing of a match between Wuppertal and Werder Bremen B in 2004, although an investigation discovered he had accepted a payment of €300 from Hoyzer.

Having been one of the officials who brought Hoyzer’s plot to light, the relatively short duration of Zwayer’s ban was a recognition of that contribution. Hoyzer was banned for life.

England midfielder Bellingham was fined by the German federation having referenced Zwayer’s involvement in that scandal after his former club Borussia Dortmund lost against Bayern Munich in 2021.

Zwayerhad turned down penalty appeals from Dortmund and awarded a late spot-kick to Bayern Munich for a Mats Hummels’ handball.

“Well for me it wasn’t [a penalty] you know,” Bellingham told Viaplay Football after the match. “He [Hummels] is not even looking at the ball and he’s fighting to get it.

“It hits him and I don’t even think he’s looking at the ball but you know you can look at a lot of the decisions in the game.

“You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany — what do you expect?”

In response, Zwayer hit back at Bellingham for what he regarded as ‘personal, disparaging and disrespectful’ comments.

“I would prefer to clarify this in a personal conversation with Jude Bellingham and have offered such a personal conversation to Borussia Dortmund,” Zwayer said.

“For me, it’s not about punishment, but about the realisation that he went too far. I would accept a sincere apology.

“The statement deliberately creates the false impression that I did not referee the match to the best of my ability. It is personal, disparaging and disrespectful. Even if you put yourself in the subjective perspective, which is marked by emotion, his statement is far from professional or factual.”

Zwayer’s involvement in the match-fixing scandal was only exposed in 2014 due to an investigation by German newspaper Die Zeit.

The outlet reported Munich criminal judge Rainer Koch reached the verdict on behalf of the German football association.

The ruling stated that ‘no intentional errors could be proven against’ Zwayer, but the wording of the verdict reached by the German football association concluded he had accepted a bribe.

Zwayer’s ban was reduced to six months due to his cooperation in helping with the investigation and the prosecuting of Hoyzer, who was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Zwayer then returned to football after his ban and has been FIFA listed since 2012.

The Football Association has declined to discuss the matter, while tournament organisers UEFA have not publicly commented.

Zwayer has already taken charge of Italy v Albania, Turkey v Portugal and Romania v Netherlands at Euro 2024.

He was also assistant VAR for England’s games against Sweden and Croatia at the 2018 World Cup.

England legend Stuart Pearce is among those to have questioned the wisdom of appointing Zwayer for this game.

“It horrifies me to hear that, it really does,” the England legend told talkSPORT when quizzed on his match-fixing past.

“Listen, if he’s been a clean referee and honest for 20 years, then fine. But it is out there.”

Pearce added to talkSPORT.com: “I gather from those around me, who have seen him in recent years, that he is an outstanding referee – which is a real plus.

“But I’m not sure why UEFA would’ve appointed him to this game with the situation with Jude Bellingham at club level.

“I’m quite surprised they’ve got involved in that. They’ve left themselves open to criticism when there’s no need to have done so.

“I have no doubts he’ll referee the game in the right and proper manner – it is just how people perceive that if there is a decision that they deem contentious against England.”

England defender Luke Shaw, meanwhile, was asked whether the team were uncomfortable about Zwayer’s appointment at a press conference on Monday.

“No, not at all. We have to respect UEFA in whoever they decide to pick as the ref. That won’t change anything about us,” he said.

“We still just focus on the game in hand, not too much about what refs we’ve been given or this and that. For us, it won’t make any difference.”

Asked if he had ever played in a game where he felt the referee was against his team, Shaw replied: “No, not really. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, you get angry in games and you might think that, but no.

“Whatever ref has been picked, has been picked. We just have to be ready and not focus on that.”

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