UEFA make last name on England’s semi-final referee amid controversy

UEFA have made a final decision on the referee for England’s Euro 2024 semi-final showdown with the Netherlands after originally assigning the game to a convicted match-fixer.

It was announced by UEFA on Sunday that Felix Zwayer, 43, would officiate the match in Dortmund on Wednesday night, despite serving a six-month ban after being found to have accepted a €300 (£253.82) bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer in a 2005 scandal.

Mail Sport contacted UEFA for comment and asked how, given his background, Zwayer could be chosen to officiate such a fixture. It is understood that UEFA bosses conducted a review which has now concluded.

Mail Sport understands Zwayer will remain in charge of Wednesday’s semi-final, with UEFA standing by their initial appointment.

Zwayer was implicated in a scandal which centred around second tier boss Hoyzer, who took bribes to fix several matches. 

UEFA have decided to stand by referee Felix Zwayer (pictured) for the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands despite the official being a convicted match-fixer

England will be hoping to book their place in the final by beating the Netherlands in Dortmund

The Netherlands have found form in the knockout stages and will provide a stern test

Zwayer, then a linesman, assisted him in one match and took a payment of €300 (£253.82). 

He was banned from officiating for six months in a move that was kept quiet until German newspaper Zeit broke the story years later.

The Zeit investigation found that while Hoyzer, who was sentenced to two years and five months in prison, Zwayer’s apartment was searched and he was found to have behaved in a ‘grossly anti-sporting’ manner.

The probe also found Zwayer failed to report Hoyzer’s match-fixing ‘of which he was aware’ and that he accepted €300 (£253.82) from Hoyzer before a match between SV Wuppertal and Werder Bremen Amateure in May 2004, in order to ‘avoid critical situations for Wuppertaler SV as an assistant referee’. 

Munich criminal judge Rainer Koch was responsible for the case for the DFB which found Zwayer did take the bribe but that he had also contributed to solving the case and that no intentional errors could be found against him.

The controversial referee also has history with Jude Bellingham after officiating a Bundesliga match between the Englishman’s former club Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in 2021.

Zwayer turned down Dortmund appeals for a penalty during the crunch clash and later awarded Bayern a spot-kick after penalising Mats Hummels for handball. 

Robert Lewandowski converted to give the visitors a win which took them four points clear of Dortmund at the top of the table. 

Zwayer has history with England’s Jude Bellingham after the midfielder brought up the referee’s controversial past after a game in 2021

The then-18-year-old Bellingham hit out at Zwayer after Dortmund’s loss to Bayern Munich

Bayern would go on to win the league, with Dortmund second. Bellingham, who was 18 at the time, hit out at Zwayer after the final whistle.

‘You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game,’ Bellingham said in a post-match TV interview. 

‘You give a referee, that has match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?’

Bellingham was subsequently fined €40,000 (£33,843) and even investigated by German police, while Zwayer took a two-month break from officiating.

However, Dortmund insisted they were ‘100 per cent’ behind their player. 

Sporting director Michael Zorc said: ‘It was a very emotional situation, he was very disappointed and only named known facts.’ 

Chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke added: ‘To be clear, Jude was not spreading lies, but what happened in the past. 

‘This statement shouldn’t have been, but I don’t see anything untrue there.’

Yet despite his controversial past and history with Bellingham, Zwayer is still set to referee England’s match against the Netherlands, with the winners due to take on Spain or France in Sunday’s final.