Controversial German referee in charge of England vs Netherlands

Possibly Germany’s most controversial and talked-about referee has been appointed to officiate the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and Netherlands.

Felix Zwayer began refereeing in the Bundesliga back in 2009 but was involved in a match-fixing scandal which occurred back in 2005.

Zwayer admitted to taking money from banned referee, Robert Hoyzer, who himself was accused of match-fixing but not altering the outcome of the game.

As a result, Zwayer was handed a six month ban from the game.

Fast forward to December 2021, Felix Zwayer was in charge of Der Klassiker between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Zwayer rejected Dortmund’s strong appeals for a penalty before awarding one late on to Bayern which was scored by Robert Lewandowski. Bayern went on to win 3-2 and extend their lead at the top from 4 to 7 points.

In a post-match interview Jude Bellingham explained: “You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?”

The then Dortmund player was fined €40,000 and Zwayer subsequently took a two-month break from the game.

The semi-final will be Zwayer’s fourth match at the tournament having previously officiated games between Italy v Albania, Portugal v Türkiye, and Netherlands v Romania.