England vs Netherlands referee Felix Zwayer has history with Jude Bellingham over match-fixing jibe
- Seb Sternik
- 8 July 2024
German referee Felix Zwayer will be the man in the middle of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday in Dortmund.
The 43-year-old from Berlin will lead an all-German officiating team which also includes his assistants Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller, plus VAR 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.
British nations have a 100% record with Zwayer as the official – including two England wins.
The Three Lions have dealt with the referee on two occasions, once back in 2017 during a 1-0 win over Slovenia and the other in 2019 during a 5-3 victory over Kosovo.
Northern Ireland beat the Faroe Islands 3-1 with this official back in 2015, while Wales and Scotland won their games in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Jude Bellingham beef
England star Jude Bellingham is certainly no stranger to Zwayer considering the pair had a memorable clash.
Back in December 2021, the midfielder was fined just over £33,000 by the German FA after making controversial comments about the official in the fallout to Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 defeat to Bayern Munich.
Bellingham, who played for BVB at the time, hit out at the referee’s performance after the official turned down Dortmund’s penalty appeals before giving one to Bayern later in the match.
After the match Bellingham told broadcaster ViaPlay: "You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany - what do you expect?”
Bellingham was referring to Zwayer’s six-month ban by the German FA in 2005 which came on the back of his involvement in a match fixing scandal.
Zwayer admitted taking money from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer – an official who had previously been banned for his alleged involvement in match fixing.
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.
