Although the German referee has started EURO 2024 well, his career is worrying. He was sentenced to 6 months for match-fixing but was saved by confessing.
German referee Felix Zwayer has been blowing the whistle in the Bundesliga since 2009. 43-year-old Zwayer, who wore the FIFA badge in 2012, appeared in 229 matches in the Bundesliga, 30 in the Champions League and 25 in the Europa League. He was selected as one of the video assistant referees of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where VAR technology was used for the first time.
AT THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE FIRST TIME
He is participating in the European Championship for the first time in his career. Zwayer, who blew his first whistle in the Italy-Albania (2-1) match, showed a successful performance in the match in which he showed 4 yellow cards. As a result, the UEFA Referee Committee immediately assigned the German, who appeared to be in very good form, to the second match.
Felix Zwayer (born 19 May 1981) is a German football referee who is based in Berlin. He referees for SC Charlottenburg of the Berlin Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA elite category referee.
HIS NAME WAS INVOLVED IN FITTING, HIS FILE WAS HIDDEN FOR A FEW YEARS
Felix Zwayer has had a troubled refereeing career. The match played between Wuppertal and Werder Bremen amateur teams in 2005 haunted him throughout his career. In the match where he was the assistant referee of the 2nd Bundesliga, Robert Hoyzer was involved in the match-fixing of "ignoring critical positions in favor of Wuppertal" in exchange for 300 Euros given to him by the referee, and he was banned for 6 months.
This suspension was kept secret for several years until the German newspaper Die Zeit published a secret leaked dossier from the German Football Association.
IT IS UNKNOWN WHETHER HE RECEIVED THE MONEY
Although there are debates about whether he received the money or not, it is stated that there are documents and statements in the case file indicating that the German Football Federation believes that Zwayer received a bribe.
The main point that made Zwayer angry was why he did not report the things done by someone like Hoyzer, who was imprisoned for 2 years and 4 months and was suspended from refereeing for life.
The main reason why Felix Zwayer, who managed to reach nirvana like the European Championship these days, was able to continue his career after that incident was that he contributed to the investigation of the Robert Hoyzer case. In a sense, it can be said that he saved his career by becoming a confessor and disappearing for a while.
HE DRIVES BELLINGHAM CRAZY
However, this incident haunted him for years. The last example was the statement of today's star Jude Bellingham after the match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in December 2021.
Bellingham, who harshly criticized Zwayer after he did not give a penalty against Dortmund, where he played at the time, said, "You are assigning duty to a referee who has been involved in match-fixing in his career in Germany's biggest match, what do you expect?"
After this match, Zwayer's refereeing was suspended until February 2022 and he returned to the field with the 2nd Bundesliga match played between Hannover 96 and Darmstadt. He also refereed the 2023 UEFA Nations League Final between Croatia and Spain on 18 June 2023.