IMAGO / JNA Press
Felix Zwayer, a FIFA referee from Berlin, has seen his first World Cup campaign come to an early end. After officiating two games in the early stages of the tournament, he will now make his way home to Berlin. He has already left the referees’ headquarters according to the German Football Association (DFB).
The former referee of the year winner in 2013/14 has got 263 Bundesliga matches under his belt and now two FIFA World Cup matches to add to the tally. His decisions during this World Cup went largely unnoticed; he did, however, attract attention in his first match of the campaign, between host nation USA and Australia (2-0), when he suffered a cramp in stoppage time.
In the past, Zwayer has been shrouded in less lighthearted news. In 2005, he was given a six-month officiating ban by the DFB for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. Although Zwayer was the one to bring Robert Hoyzer’s match-fixing scheme to light, he was found to have taken a €300 bribe from Hoyzer and was punished for failing to refuse and report it. Hoyzer received a lifetime ban.
When Zwayer officiated a top-flight match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund (3-2) in 2021, he was even criticised by England’s Jude Bellingham, who played for Dortmund at the time: “You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?” Bellingham was fined €40,000 for his comments about Zwayer.