The choice to nominate Felix Zwayer because the referee for England’s European Championship semi-final in opposition to the Netherlands will reunite the German official with Jude Bellingham. It has additionally alerted the world to Zwayer’s tough previous.
It’s UEFA’s most controversial appointment of the event. Zwayer is now 43 and has been thought-about certainly one of Germany’s high officers for a while. However again in 2004, when he was an assistant referee, an investigation revealed that he had accepted a €300 fee from Robert Hoyzer, a referee later banned for all times for match-fixing, to make sure the result of a sport between Wuppertal and Werder Bremen II.
Zwayer all the time denied affecting the result of the sport in query and a DFB investigation discovered no proof that he did, both. He served a six-month ban for failing to refuse Hoyzer’s method, after which for failing to report it. That punishment was mitigated in return for proof he gave that helped to convict Hoyzer, who was sentenced to 2 years and 5 months in jail.
However after Zwayer served his suspension, he rebuilt his profession, turning into one of many highest-profile officers in Germany.
The difficulty was that the case in opposition to Zwayer had been hid by the German FA (DFB) for a decade.
By September 2014, Zwayer had risen to develop into German soccer’s referee of the 12 months. It was just a few months later, in December 2014, that the newspaper Die Zeit revealed that Zwayer had accepted cash from Hoyzer, had had his house searched and had been suspended — none of which had beforehand been public data. Zwayer has remained a contentious determine in German soccer ever since and it isn’t tough to seek out individuals who consider his integrity to have been severely compromised by the Hoyzer affair.
That stain on his fame has by no means washed out. Famously, Zwayer’s historical past — and the entire Hoyzer episode — was given a brand new airing in December 2021, when Jude Bellingham’s then-club Borussia Dortmund confronted Bayern Munich on the Westfalenstadion.
At 2-2 all within the second half, Marco Reus ran onto a through-ball and seemed to be bundled to the ground within the penalty field by Lucas Hernandez. In real-time, it actually regarded like a penalty. Zwayer stated no and, a lot to Dortmund’s anger, declined to seek the advice of the VAR display screen to provide the incident a re-examination.
Dortmund had been incensed. Zwayer was later interviewed by broadcaster Sport1 and stated that on seeing the sort out and noting Hernandez’s barge within the again, he had then described what he had seen to his VAR, asking whether or not there was something he had missed.
“The query was if there had been one other contact that I hadn’t observed. I used to be instructed there wasn’t. That’s why it wasn’t a penalty and there was no on-field evaluation.”
That was in all probability the improper name by the VAR staff. Trying on the problem once more, there does look like greater than only a shove within the again — Reus appeared to have been tripped, too — and so Zwayer ought to actually have been directed to the display screen. It will not have mattered, Erling Haaland was offside throughout the build-up — that was revealed later — and a penalty would by no means have been given. However procedurally, it was not fairly proper.
That was not the only controversy. Bayern’s profitable objective got here from the penalty spot after Mats Hummels had been penalised for a pernickety handball. The choice was appropriate, however — in a transfer that additional antagonised Dortmund — Zwayer went to the VAR display screen to deliberate earlier than making the choice.
On the finish of an emotional and fractious sport, Dortmund had been overwhelmed by a way of injustice. They defended dreadfully and weren’t wholly entitled to their grievances, however that was nonetheless the context for the quote from Bellingham that, finally, everybody would keep in mind.
After the sport, Bellingham was being interviewed by Jan Aage Fjortoft, the previous Eintracht Frankfurt and Norway ahead who now works for ViaPlay, and was requested for his verdict on the 2 choices. Bellingham didn’t agree with both.
“You give a referee that’s match-fixed earlier than the most important sport in Germany… what do you anticipate?”
It was a startling comment and the fallout was dramatic — distinctive, even. The referee’s assessor that evening, Marco Haase, filed a prison grievance for slander and defamation in opposition to Bellingham and the previous referee-turned-pundit Manuel Grafe.
Grafe had truly been one of many whistleblowers within the Hoyzer case and has been a persistent critic of Zwayer. Shortly earlier than the Dortmund-Bayern sport, he had given an interview saying that “any individual who’s taken cash as soon as and saved silent about Hoyzer’s manipulations for half a 12 months shouldn’t referee in skilled soccer.”
The grievance lacked “authorized benefit” and didn’t proceed, however the response lasted for weeks.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, the Dortmund CEO, defended his participant, saying: “Jude didn’t insult anybody, he simply described a reality.”
The next day, the then-Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn instructed Sky Deutschland that Bellingham’s feedback had been “clearly an enormous step too far.”
Bellingham was fined €40,000 (£34,000; $43,000) for his feedback however prevented suspension. Zwayer acquired a hail of criticism, even dying threats. He briefly thought-about strolling away from refereeing. As a substitute, he took a short sabbatical, earlier than making a low-key return to officiating within the 2.Bundesliga in February 2022.
Requested concerning the incident on Sportstudio in April 2022, Zwayer stated that he wished to debate the matter with Bellingham.
“I wished to know why he stated what he did and the place it got here from. I don’t suppose he has a very shut connection of his personal to what occurred in 2004. That’s why I wished to speak to him.”
It was an odd episode, however one which drew a robust response from everyone it touched. Writing for Die Zeit the day after the sport, on December fifth 2021, journalist Oliver Fritsch succinctly articulated why.
“Jude Bellingham addressed one thing basic that individuals in Germany desire to maintain quiet about: due to his historical past within the Hoyzer case, many gamers, managers and coaches not respect or belief Felix Zwayer. They interpret errors he makes personally. Anybody who has dedicated the unique sin as a referee is not believed.
“Bellingham has now stated what many within the Bundesliga suppose and know. He didn’t declare, as some have accused him of, that Zwayer manipulated the sport on December 4, 2021. He merely questioned the non-public suitability of a referee. And reminded us that some footballers or coaches don’t need to be officiated by a referee who as soon as accepted cash.”
It is a matter that can by no means go away for Zwayer.
He has been a FIFA referee since 2012 and has officiated Champions League video games since 2016. He has taken cost of lots of of video games, domestically and in Europe, and on Wednesday evening he’ll oversee his fourth sport of this European Championship.
That the match will likely be performed in Dortmund, in the identical floor as that Dortmund-Bayern sport, and that it’s going to characteristic Bellingham, simply makes the previous more durable to disregard.
Zwayer’s appointment to this sport creates a sub-plot that it might do with out.
(Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Pictures through Getty Pictures)