Gary Lineker and BBC pundits hit out at England vs Netherlands referee appointment after match-fixing scandal

Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards have branded Uefa’s choice of referee for England’s European Championship semi-final against Netherlands “not a good look” after he was banned for his part in a match-fixing scandal.

The trio used their The Rest is Football podcast to speak out against the appointment of Felix Zwayer, who also has history with Jude Bellingham after the midfielder was fined €40,000 for publicly raising the German’s past while playing for Borussia Dortmund.

Highlighting what he said had become a “bit of a storm” over Zwayer’s selection, Lineker said: “I just wonder how Uefa have managed to come up with that? And, obviously, there’s a bit of history there between him and Jude Bellingham, who I presume was talking about the German Cup final, Dortmund-Bayern.”

Shearer continued: “Wow. How to get people talking before a game then.”

Both also concurred with Richards after he added: “It’s just not needed, is it? It’s not a good look.”

Telegraph Sport has been told Uefa has full confidence in Zwayer, while the Football Association declined to comment on whether it had any concerns about the appointment or had raised them with tournament organisers.

In 2005, Zwayer admitted taking money from banned referee Robert Hoyzer, who was accused of match-fixing but not of altering the outcome of a game.

Zwayer, who eventually helped bring the plot to light, was banned for six months by the German Football Association.

He became a Bundesliga referee in the 2009-10 season and has since been chosen for Champions League games and this season’s Europa Conference League final, as well as the Euros.

It was while Bellingham was at Dortmund that he took charge of a controversial match against Bayern Munich in 2021.

Zwayer turned down penalty appeals from Dortmund and awarded a late spot-kick to Bayern for a Mats Hummels’ handball.

“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?”

In response, Zwayer hit out at what he branded “personal, disparaging and disrespectful” comments.

“I would prefer to clarify this in a personal conversation with Jude Bellingham and have offered such a personal conversation to Borussia Dortmund,” Zwayer said.

“For me, it’s not about punishment, but about the realisation that he went too far. I would accept a sincere apology.

“The statement deliberately creates the false impression that I did not referee the match to the best of my ability. It is personal, disparaging and disrespectful. Even if you put yourself in the subjective perspective, which is marked by emotion, his statement is far from professional or factual.”

Uefa has chosen Zwayer and his all-German team of officials at Wednesday’s match in Dortmund, with Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmüller his assistants and the video assistant referee named as Bastian Dankert.

England defender Luke Shaw said: “We have to respect Uefa on whoever they decide to pick as ref. That won’t change anything for us, we just focus on the game at hand and not focus on the refs we are given.”

After the Bellingham comments, Zwayer took a two-month break from officiating. His inclusion at the Euros has not gone down well with some other former officials.

Former Bundesliga and Fifa official Manuel Grafe posted on social media after Zwayer took charge of Italy versus Albania that his appointment was unfair on other refs.

“This match will go down as a great shame in the glorious history of German referees over the last decades,” he wrote.

“A referee who was involved in match fixing [and] who remained silent about it for six months until [the] final moment, thereby enabling further manipulation, sentenced by own association, was nominated by DFB/Uefa (zero tolerance match fixing?!) for the Euro [and] appointed for this game. Other referees would have deserved it more…”

It will be the second time Zwayer has overseen a match involving the Dutch, having also refereed their round of 16 victory over Romania.

England semi-final referee runs risk of ‘match-fixing’ past greeting every decision

Felix Zwayer is very fortunate to still be a high-level referee, given his history.

The German official has been appointed to take charge of England’s semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday and will have to face up to Jude Bellingham again after the midfielder accused him of ‘match fixing’ in 2021.

In 2005 Zwayer was an assistant referee to Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer who was banned for life for taking bribes to fix several matches.

Zwayer, along with two other high ranking referees, informed the German FA about Hoyzer but admitted to taking a 300 euro bribe from Hoyzer. As a result, he was banned for six months which was kept a secret until a German newspaper published files naming him.

However, Uefa and various other authorities seem to be happy with his on field performances after being allowed to rebuild his career. He is considered a high-level referee by Uefa and was trusted as being one of the first referees to use VAR technology and has since taken charge of the Nations League final this year before being named as one of the officials for this Euros in his home country.

This is surprising. While there is no doubt of Zwayer’s ability as a referee, I believe any official who is guilty of taking any bribe, no matter how big or small, should never be allowed to officiate a professional game again – especially a Euros semi-final. I guess the fact he reported the offence was his saving grace.

The PGMOL tends to keep referees away from clubs where there is a history of confrontation as no referee should be going into a game with baggage.

Uefa should have done their homework. His run-in with Bellingham, which saw the midfielder fined 40,000 euros and handed a one-game ban for appearing to question his integrity by bringing up his history, would not have been taken into consideration but the fact he refereed Netherlands’ Round of 16 match against Romania should have been taken into account.

Zwayer will be accustomed to the Netherlands’ style of play and their players and will could now take previous experiences with him into the game against England.

Uefa should have appointed an official who has not been involved in games concerning England or the Dutch so far this tournament.

The Bellingham situation will not play much on Zwayer’s mind.I was lucky enough to not have any experience of facing up to a player who had criticised me publicly before but every time you start a game as a referee the slate is clean. If anything it will sharpen the focus of Zwayer to put in a performance and I am sure Bellingham will be focussing on letting his boots do the talking rather than his post-match comments this time round.

However, make no mistake, Zwayer is a lucky man to be given the opportunity to referee such a big game. If he was a PGMOL official he would not have survived the scandal which saw him banned all those years ago.

Throughout his career he has run the risk of that fact confronting him after any subjective or controversial decision and I am sure if his performance is the talk of the game on Wednesday night it will greet him once more.