Referee with match-fixing past to officiate Netherlands vs England Euro 2024 semi-final

Jude Bellingham has once called out the referee for match-fixing.

Felix Zwayer is set to be the official referee for Netherlands vs England Euro 2024 semi-final game. He is famous for match-fixing in 2005 and was handed a six-month ban. He additionally was criticised by the midfielder Judel Bellingham in Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund game.

The England international received a €40,000 (£33,970) fine from the German FA for his words towards the 41-year-old.

“You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany – what do you expect? For me, it wasn’t (a penalty). He (Hummels) is not even looking at the ball and he’s fighting to get it and it hits him. You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game,” Bellingham had said to ViaPlay after Zwayer had awarded Bayern a penalty while denying Dortmund one earlier.

Zwayer later hit back at Bellingham and defended his decision and told Sky Germany: “The situation was a standard corner kick. “I see in the game that it’s about a touch by Hummels. The question for me was: Is the arm stretched away from the body or not? In real-time, it was not clear whether his arm was moved towards the ball. I checked it with [VAR officials] in Cologne and then the arm position was checked. ”

”The video assistant made an assessment for himself and said that Hummels had his arm away from the body in an unnatural position. In the end, he clearly deflected the ball with his elbow and I came to the decision that it was a penalty,” 

The 41-year-old has been officiating in Euro 2024 having overseen the games between Netherlands vs Romania quarterfinal encounter, Italy vs Albania and Portugal vs Turkey in the group stages.

Bellingham will see a familiar face in the match, and hopefully, he can maintain his composure. According to new European regulations, only the captain has the right to object to referees and other than him can be issued a yellow card.

Bellingham would prefer to stay out of trouble after receiving a warning for his outrageous celebration against Slovakia.

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