Bellingham Beef<\/strong><\/h2>\nHowever, the DFB could find no evidence that Zwayer had directly manipulated the game. His punishment was lenient because of his contribution to the investigation of the case. He was one of a group of whistleblowers \u2013 pun intended \u2013 who approached the DFB with concerns about Hoyzer in late 2004.<\/p>\n
That Zwayer accepted money from Hoyzer was hidden from public knowledge until a decade later when German newspaper\u00a0Der Zeit<\/em>\u00a0published an expos\u00e9.<\/p>\nWednesday\u2019s match may be particularly awkward given the history between Zwayer and England\u2019s talismanic midfielder Jude Bellingham.<\/p>\n
\n
In 2021, Bellingham criticized Zwayer\u2019s performance after a game between his team, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayern Munich with the words: \u201cIf you give a referee, who has, you know, match-fixed before, the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The DFB fined the player \u20ac40K for the remark.<\/p>\n
Zwayer will be hoping the tomorrow\u2019s game passes without any such controversy. Make a decision that leaves England aggrieved and he will undoubtedly face the wrath of the British tabloids.<\/p>\n
What Happened to Hoyzer?<\/strong><\/h2>\nHoyzer fell under suspicion after officiating a match between the Bundesliga\u2019s Hamburg and non-league minnows Paderborn in August 2004 in the first round of the German Cup. Few gave Paderborn a chance, but the team ran out an unlikely winner after Hoyzer awarded it two phantom penalties and sent off Hamburg\u2019s Belgian forward Emile Mpenza.<\/p>\n
When suspicious betting patterns were reported, authorities launched a criminal investigation. Hoyzer admitted he had manipulated several games on behalf of a Croatian gambling syndicate operated by three brothers, Ante Sapina, Milan Sapina, and Filip Sapina. The brothers won \u20ac500K from betting on the Paderborn game alone.<\/p>\n
Hoyzer was sentenced to two years and five months in prison and banned for soccer for life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UEFA, European soccer\u2019s governing body, is standing by its decision to place a referee once banned for his role in a match-fixing scandal in charge of Wednesday\u2019s Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands. Felix Zwayer was banned from soccer for six months as a result of the scandal, which happened two decades ago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":324752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86644,21,82966,1074],"tags":[91358,91623,91625,82204,90814,91624],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Euro 2024 Semi-Final Ref Once Accepted Cash from Notorious Match Fixer<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n