UEFA confirm controversial referee decision for PSG vs Arsenal Champions League showdown

Latest news ahead of the PSG vs Arsenal Champions League semi-final second leg as UEFA confirm their referee selection

German referee Felix Zwayer is set to officiate Arsenal’s crucial Champions League semi-final second leg meeting with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, UEFA has confirmed.

Mikel Arteta’s side go to the French capital having narrowly lost the Emirates Stadium first leg 1-0, so therefore require victory by at least two goals, or face a dreaded penalty shootout with a single goal victory, to advance to the final in Munich.

The 43-year-old is a highly experienced referee having been involved in 684 matches.

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However, one year after he started, in 2005, he became caught up in a €2m match fixing scandal focused on referee Robert Hoyzer.

He allegedly accepted a €300 bribe as Hoyzer’s assistant once, but came forward with two others to make the DFB aware of what was happening.

Zwayer and his colleagues were subsequently banned for six months – a fact that remained unpublished until several years after the fact, when German publication Die Zeit got hold of secret German FA files.

He has gone on to officiate at the highest level, though it is something that has loomed over his head. Last year he took charge of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final vs the Netherlands, which gave fresh life to comments made by Jude Bellingham in 2021.

Playing for Borussia Dortmund at the time, following a 3-2 defeat to rivals Bayern Munich involving a penalty decision the young England international 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.”

Bellingham was then fined €40k (£33.9k) by the German FA for that comment.

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Overall, Zwayer has taken charge of 36 Champions League matches since the 2015/16 campaign.

In that time he has dished out 193 yellow cards, which equates to an average of 5.3 per game. He has also issued six second yellow cards and three straight red cards.

One of those second yellows and all three of those straight red cards have come during the current campaign.

Zwayer’s assistants for PSG vs Arsenal have been named as fellow Germans Robert Kempter and Christian Dietz, his fourth official is Harm Osmers, VAR will be operated by Bastian Dankert and the VAR assistant is Benjamin Brand.