What UEFA did after Jude Bellingham ‘match-fixing’ claim as Tottenham vs Man Utd decision made

The referee for the Europa League final between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United has been confirmed and it is a somewhat controversial appointment – for the second week in a row.

Felix Zwayer will be the man in the middle at San Mames in Bilbao, Spain, as Spurs look to end 17 years without a trophy in the Europa League final.

And it is a controversial appointment by UEFA for the second time in as many weeks. Zwayer was the man in the middle for Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain last week and the game was not without incident with VAR intervening to give PSG a penalty for a handball by Myles Lewis-Skelly that no one appeared to spot in real time.

That is not the reason Zwayer is a controversial appointment, however.

Zwayer hit the headlines in 2014 when it was revealed he had been part of a match-fixing scandal in Germany in 2006. Working alongside referee Robert Hoyzer, Zwayer claimed he was asked to fix a match between Rot-Weiss Essen and Cologne in the 2. Bundesliga.

There was also a 2. Bundesliga game involving Wuppertal and Werder Bremen B in which the German football federation (DFB) found that Zwayer had accepted a €300 payment from Hoyzer.

Zwayer was given a six-month ban for his part in the scandal, but always maintained his innocence, saying: “When I got this firm offer from Hoyzer, I went to my refereeing colleagues. I stress once again that I strongly rejected this offer straightaway.”

Zwayer was in the headlines once more in 2021 when England star Jude Bellingham called him out for his history after his then team Borussia Dortmund had lost 3-2 to Bayern Munich in a tempestuous affair in the title race.

Bellingham had said: “You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany – what do you expect?

“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.”

UEFA gave their full backing to Zwayer, however, with the governing body having no concerns over his suitability to oversee top-level matches in its competitions, as shown by his appointment for the showpiece final.