[ad_1]
Felix Zwayer has been appointed as the referee for the European Championship semi-final between England and the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Zwayer will be assisted by Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller, with Daniel Siebert the fourth official and Bastian Dankert as video assistant referee (VAR). Dankert will be assisted by Christian Dingert and Marco Fritz in the VAR room.
It will be 43-year-old Zwayer’s fourth officiated match of the tournament, having overseen the group-stage games between Italy and Albania on June 15 and then between Portugal and Turkey on June 22. He was also in charge of the Netherlands’ three-goal victory over Romania in the round of 16.
The German, who began refereeing in the Bundesliga in the 2009-10 season, was involved in a match-fixing scandal in 2005. Zwayer admitted to taking money from banned referee Robert Hoyzer, who was accused of match-fixing but not of altering the outcome of a game. When this came to light, Zwayer was given a six-month ban.
Zwayer took charge of the UEFA Nations League final between Spain and Italy last year. He is regularly used by UEFA across its club and national team competitions.
GO DEEPER
Felix Zwayer: The Euro 2024 referee who was banned for match-fixing
In December 2021, Zwayer took a two-month break from officiating after Jude Bellingham’s comments following Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
Zwayer had rejected Dortmund’s appeals for a penalty in the game before later giving Bayern a spot-kick for a Mats Hummels’ handball. Robert Lewandowski converted the penalty and secured victory for Bayern, who at the time led second-place Dortmund by four points in the table.
“You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?” Bellingham, who was fined €40,000 by German football officials but avoided a ban for his comments, said to Viaplay after the game.
“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.”
Zwayer (c) attracted the ire of Bellingham (l) during the 2021 match (Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)
England progressed to the semi-final stage after defeating Switzerland in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in their quarter-final match.
Gareth Southgate’s side topped Group C after defeating Serbia and drawing against Denmark and Slovenia, before progressing past Slovakia in the last 16 after a 2-1 victory after extra time.
The Netherlands came third in Group D behind France and group winners Austria, but Ronald Koeman’s side defeated Romania 3-0 in the round-of-16 stage before coming from a goal down to defeat Turkey 2-1 in Saturday’s quarter-final tie.
England, who lost the final of Euro 2020 against Italy on penalties, are aiming to win their first European Championship title while the Netherlands are aiming to reach their first final since winning the competition in 1988.
The winners of the tie will face either France or Spain, who play on Tuesday, in Sunday’s final in Berlin.
Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic will take charge of the semi-final between France and Spain in Munich.
(Franz Kirchmayr/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)
[ad_2]
Source link
Fitnessnacks – #Felix #Zwayer #referee #Englands #Euro #semifinal #Netherlands
Courtesy : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5622020/2024/07/08/england-netherlands-ref-felix-zwayer/