Referee criticised by Bellingham for past links to match-fixing to officiate England’s Euro 2024 semi-final

A referee from Germany, who was previously called out for his connections to match manipulation by Jude Bellingham, has been chosen to officiate the semi-final match between England and the Netherlands at the European Championship on Wednesday.

In 2006, Felix Zwayer, who was 43 years old at the time, was issued a six-month suspension by the German Football Federation (DFB). This punishment came after Zwayer had served as an assistant referee with Robert Hoyzer.

Zwayer was one of the referees who exposed Hoyzer's scheme to fix matches, resulting in Hoyzer receiving a lifetime ban. Zwayer has consistently denied any involvement in Hoyzer's manipulation of the Wuppertal versus Werder Bremen II match in 2004. Following a DFB inquiry, no proof was found to suggest that Zwayer had influenced the game's outcome.

It was revealed that he had taken a €300 payment from Hoyzer, but he was suspended for six months for not declining the offer and not reporting it correctly. The ban imposed by the DFB on Zwayer did not become known to the public until a report by Die Zeit a decade later.

In December 2021, Zwayer decided to take a break for two months from his role as a referee after Bellingham mentioned the situation in a interview after Borussia Dortmund's 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

During the game, Zwayer refused to give Dortmund a penalty but later awarded Bayern a penalty for a handball by Mats Hummels. Robert Lewandowski successfully scored the penalty, sealing the win for Bayern. At that time, Bayern was leading second-place Dortmund by four points in the standings.

Bellingham questioned the decision to assign a referee with a history of match-fixing to the most important game in Germany.

Felix Zwayer: The referee for Euro 2024 who was suspended for associations with match-fixing.

The soccer player from England was penalized €40,000 by the German Football Association for mentioning Zwayer's suspension.

Zwayer later spoke out in an interview with German news outlet BILD, defending his performance and criticizing Belligham's remarks as "insulting and rude".

He stated that the comment was intentionally made to wrongly suggest that he did not officiate the game to the best of his skills.

He continued: "Even if you try to see things from his point of view, which is driven by emotions, his comment is not at all professional or based on facts."

Zwayer, who is 43 years old, will be officiating his fourth match of the tournament in Dortmund on Wednesday. He previously refereed the group-stage matches between Italy and Albania on June 15 and Portugal and Turkey on June 22. He also oversaw the Netherlands' three-goal win over Romania in the round of 16.

Zwayer will have Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller helping him during the game, while Daniel Siebert will be the fourth official and Bastian Dankert will be the video assistant referee (VAR). In the VAR room, Dankert will be supported by Christian Dingert and Marco Fritz.

He was in control of the UEFA Nations League final game between Spain and Italy last year. He is frequently chosen by UEFA to officiate in their club and national team tournaments.

Felix Zwayer, the Euro 2024 referee, faced a ban due to his connections to match-fixing.

England advanced to the semi-finals after beating Switzerland in a penalty shootout, following a 1-1 tie in their quarter-final game.

Gareth Southgate's team finished first in Group C by beating Serbia and tying against Denmark and Slovenia. They then advanced to the quarterfinals after a 2-1 win in extra time against Slovakia.

The Netherlands finished in third place in Group D, with France and Austria finishing above them. However, in the round-of-16 stage, Ronald Koeman's team beat Romania 3-0. In the quarter-final match on Saturday, they came back from a goal down to defeat Turkey 2-1.

England, who were defeated by Italy in the Euro 2020 final on penalties, are hoping to secure their first European Championship title. Meanwhile, the Netherlands are striving to make it to their first final since emerging victorious in the tournament back in 1988.

The team that wins the match will go on to play in the final on Sunday in Berlin against either France or Spain, who will play on Tuesday.

Slovenian official Slavko Vincic has been chosen to referee the semi-final match between France and Spain in Munich.

The blog post with the INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images has been rewritten in simplified English: The blog section featuring images from INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images has been revised for easy understanding.

Colin Millar writes for The Athletic as a member of the staff. Before working at The Athletic, Colin was a writer covering European Football for Mirror Football. Originally from Belfast, Colin wrote a book called The Frying Pan of Spain: Sevilla vs Real Betis, Spain's most intense football rivalry. You can follow Colin on Twitter @Millar_Colin.