A German referee who was banned after becoming embroiled in a match-fixing scandal and who has a history with Jude Bellingham will take charge of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Felix Zwayer, 43, was given a six-month ban by his country’s football federation (DFB) in 2006, having worked as an assistant referee alongside Robert Hoyzer. Zwayer was one of the officials who brought Hoyzer’s match-fixing plot to light, with the relatively short duration of Zwayer’s ban a recognition of that contribution. Hoyzer was banned for life.
The England midfielder Bellingham was fined by the DFB after he referenced Zwayer’s involvement in that scandal after a defeat for his former club Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich in 2021.
Zwayer has always denied being in on Hoyzer’s fix of Wuppertal’s game with Werder Bremen B in 2004, though a DFB investigation found the young Zwayer to have accepted a €300 payment from Hoyzer. The DFB’s ban of Zwayer was not public knowledge until a report by Die Zeit 10 years later.
Zwayer said in 2005 that he had been asked by Hoyzer to fix the result of a Bundesliga 2 match between Rot-Weiss Essen and Cologne. “When I got this firm offer from Hoyzer, I went to my refereeing colleagues,” Zwayer said. “I stress once again that I strongly rejected this offer straight away.”
Zwayer will lead an all-German officiating team at Wednesday’s match in Dortmund, which also includes his assistants Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmüller, plus the video assistant referee Bastian Dankert. It will be the second time Zwayer has overseen a match involving the Dutch, having also refereed their last-16 victory over Romania. Before that Zwayer took charge of Italy’s opening match against Albania and Portugal’s win over Turkey in the second round of group matches.
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The Football Association declined to comment on the matter and the tournament organiser, Uefa, has been approached for comment.
