THE REFEREE taking charge of Manchester United’s Europa League final showdown with Tottenham served a six-month ban for match fixing.
Felix Zwayer, 43, is the man in the middle of the all-English affair on May 21 as both sides eye season-saving silverware and Champions League qualification.
The German is one of Uefa’s top-ranked referees and took charge of England’s semi-final win over the Netherlands at last summer’s Euros.
And he took charge of Arsenal‘s Champions League semi-final second leg defeat to Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday.
Zwayer came under-fire from Arsenal fans after handing PSG a penalty for a controversial handball call against Myles Lewis-Skelly.
He now faces another major night in Bilbao as Man Utd look to go unbeaten in Europe, despite their embarrassing Premier League form.
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But Zwayer, who has overseen more than 700 games and is highly rated by Uefa, has a tainted history.
In 2005, he was punished for accepting a bribe from fellow ref Robert Hoyzer.
Zwayer was a linesman at the time and took £250 to fix a second division match in Germany.
An investigation revealed that Hoyzer had been accepting money from a Croatian gambling syndicate connected to an organised crime group.
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Hoyzer was banned from football for life while also receiving a prison sentence of two years and five months.
As for Zwayer, he was suspended from football for six months before returning to eventually become a Bundesliga ref in 2009.
His bribery scandal has not gone unnoticed though, with Jude Bellingham calling him out after Borussia Dortmund drew with rivals Bayern Munich in 2021.
Bellingham was slapped with a £34,000 fine for blasting Zwayer’s chequered past while complaining about a penalty incident.
The England star said: “You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?”
Zwayer last refereed Man Utd during their 2-2 draw with Sevilla in the Europa League in 2023.
The Red Devils are unbeaten in all four games that Zwayer has officiated, which have ended in two wins and two draws.
And the last time he called the shots in a Tottenham game was during their 4-2 loss in Barcelona in 2018.
Zwayer has been an international ref since 2012 and will officiate his second Uefa final after the 2023 Nations League meeting between Croatia and Spain.
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Compatriots Robert Kempter and Christian Dietz have been named as his assistants in Bilbao.
Italy’s Maurizio Mariani is the fourth official and Bastian Dankert will serve as VAR.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
