Referee Felix Zwayer, who has served a six-month ban for match fixing, has been selected to officiate England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands.
The 43-year-old from Berlin will lead an all-German team of officials on Wednesday night as England take on the Netherlands in Dortmund.
Dortmund is also where he and England midfielder Jude Bellingham have history.
CONFIRMED: Felix Zwayer will referee the semi-final between Netherlands and England.
He served a six-month ban for a match-fixing incident in Germany. pic.twitter.com/kMhKM3b5hd
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) July 8, 2024
In December 2021 the then 19-year-old midfielder was fined nearly £34,000 by the German FA following his post-match comments about Zwayer, who turned down Dortmund’s appeals for a penalty in Der Klassiker before awarding one to Bayern Munich later in the game.
Bellingham told ViaPlay: “You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany – what do you expect? You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game.”
The German FA’s sports court found Bellingham guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Bellingham was referring to Zwayer’s involvement in a match-fixing scandal in 2005, four years before he was promoted to the Bundesliga, which saw him serve a six-month ban.
The official took a two-month break from the game after the controversy following the Dortmund v Bayern game, which Munich won 3-2 courtesy of the 77th minute spot-kick from Robert Lewandowski.
Zwayer has already refereed the Netherlands in this competition, taking the whistle for their Round of 16 win over Romania. He also oversaw the group phase games between Italy and Albania and Portugal and Turkey.
He is a regular in UEFA club and international competitions and officiated the 2023 Nations League Final between Spain and Croatia.
