Aston Villa Conference League semi-final referee suspended over match-fixing scandal

Felix Zweier served a six-month ban in 2005 for accepting bribes from convicted match-fixer Robert Heuser. Photo: EPA/Christopher Neundorf < p>Aston Villa's Europa League semi-final second leg against Olympiacos will be officiated by a referee who served a six-month ban as a result of the match-fixing scandal in Germany.

Felix Zweier has been confirmed as the referee for Thursday night's game in Greece, where Villa need to overturn a 4-2 first-leg deficit to reach the final in Athens.

Zweier is among the UEFA players . The referee is an «elite category» but has also been involved in controversy and has been heavily criticized by Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland, as well as upsetting West Ham United manager David Moyes.

In 2005, Zweier was suspended for six months due to a match-fixing scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Heuser, who was accused of accepting bribes for match fixing.

Zweier and three other officials reported Heuser's illegal activities. , but the 42-year-old real estate broker served a six-month ban as part of the case.

The incident was brought up again in 2021 when Zweier refereed a game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, in which he sharply criticized for not giving a penalty in Dortmund and sending off coach Marco Rose.

Although Zweier was punished. In 2005, for helping Häuser and accepting a bribe from him rather than fixing the match, England international Bellingham, who was playing for Dortmund at the time, said: “You can look at a lot of other decisions in the game. If you give a referee who you know has fixed matches before, the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?

Bellingham was fined by the German Football Federation for his comments and Manchester City striker Haaland, who is also a former Dortmund player, said: “As I said, he was very arrogant. It looks like he wanted to make headlines and now he will get them because he made a lot of mistakes. He was not a good judge. What can I say? Not a very good game on his part.”

Zweyer took a break from refereeing due to the controversy. He returned in February 2022 and later angered Moyes, who was booked for protesting after Aaron Cresswell was officially sent off in the Europa League quarter-final between West Ham and Lyon.

Zwyer refereed the Nations League final last summer between Croatia and Spain, and this season he scored Arsenal's Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven and Brighton's 1-0 home Europa League win over Roma.

Villa, looks set to get a boost from the return of goalkeeper Emi Martinez for the second leg against Olympiacos on Thursday night after the club posted a photo of the Argentina international alongside Pau Torres on X with the caption «ready to give everything».