A referee with a shady past. Felix Zwayer, the experienced German man in black, will be in charge of the Euro 2024 round of 16 between Romania and the Netherlands this Tuesday afternoon, starting at 6 p.m. An appointment that may seem surprising given the 43-year-old official’s record.
Accustomed to taking charge of big Bundesliga matches, Mr. Zwayer was involved in a major refereeing scandal 20 years ago. Then a linesman, the Berlin native was an accomplice in the actions of Robert Hoyzer, who was officiating the German third division match between Wuppertal and the reserve team of Werder Bremen. The latter had fixed the match and had received money from foreign punters. Zwayer had collected 300 euros under the table from his central referee.
“I was young and naive”
After admitting his wrongdoing, he was only given a six-month suspension, which did not prevent him from becoming one of the leading referees in Germany. “Zwayer has been one of our best referees for many years,” said Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the DFB, in reported comments by The Team. He deserves to represent the German refereeing body at the Euro.” “In 2004, I was young and naive,” the person concerned admitted to Bild a few months ago. “I have moved on, even if the matter comes up again as soon as a team feels wronged or my performance was average.”
Video assistant at the 2018 World Cup, Felix Zwayer is set to officiate for the first time as number one at an international competition this summer in Germany. He has so far whistled two matches without causing a stir: Italy-Albania (2-1) and Turkey-Portugal (0-3).
