Euro 2024 Semi-Final: England vs Netherlands
German referee Felix Zwayer will take charge of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday. The 43-year-old from Berlin will lead an all-German officiating team in Dortmund.
“The situation was a standard corner kick. I see in the game that it’s about a touch by Hummels. The question for me was: Is the arm stretched away from the body or not? In real-time, it was not clear whether his arm was moved towards the ball. I checked it with [VAR officials] in Cologne and then the arm position was checked. The video assistant made an assessment for himself and said that Hummels had his arm away from the body in an unnatural position. In the end, he clearly deflected the ball with his elbow and I came to the decision that it was a penalty.”
- Felix Zwayer
This will be the second time Zwayer has overseen a match involving the Dutch, having also refereed their last-16 victory over Romania. Before that, Zwayer took charge of Italy’s opening match against Albania and Portugal’s win over Turkey in the second round of group matches.
The semi-final clash will see the German referee share the pitch with Three Lions midfielder Jude Bellingham, and the pair have history. In December 2021, Bellingham received a fine of €40,000 (£33,970) from the German FA for his post-match comments on Zwayer after Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich. Bellingham hit out at the performance of Zwayer after he turned down appeals for a penalty – only to award Bayern one for a Mats Hummels handball.
Zwayer admitted taking money from Robert Hoyzer, a fellow referee who had previously been banned for allegedly being involved in match fixing, four years prior to his promotion to the Bundesliga.
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