Who’s Zwayer, the referee of Italy-Albania

Italy-Albania might be refereed by the 43-year-old German Felix Zwayer, a referee who, as a younger man in 2004, turned well-known for participating in a match-fixing operation within the fourth German division, accepting 300 euros to favor Wuppertaler in a match. A youthful mistake during which he was concerned, together with three different referees, via the fault of a colleague, Robert Hoyzer, who was the principle director of that betting ring, a lot in order that he was later compelled to resign and spend greater than a yr in jail. After receiving a 6-month suspension, Zwayer has slowly grown: he was promoted to the Bundesliga in 2009 and have become a global in 2012. He presently has 229 league matches below his belt and 30 Champions League matches, during which he has stood out for awarding 16 penalties.

Well-known for a controversial route of the ‘Klassiker’

In Germany, he’s nonetheless remembered right this moment for his controversial refereeing of the ‘Klassiker’ match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern in December 2021, during which he was harshly criticised (over 5,000 signatures had been collected on social media to cease him, ndr) for not awarding a penalty to the yellow and blacks and as a substitute awarding a doubtful and decisive one (the one for the ultimate 2-3) to Bayern. The controversy was so fierce (“he was boastful”, Haaland stated of him) that he independently determined to take a two and a half month break.

That is his first ultimate stage of a significant competitors

Referee of the 2022/23 Nations League ultimate between Spain and Croatia (which ended 5-4 on penalties), that is his first participation in a significant ultimate section of a global competitors. This yr he was assigned the primary leg of the Champions League spherical of 16 between Napoli and Barcelona (1-1), the second leg of the Europa League spherical of 16 between Brighton and Roma (1-0), the second leg of the quarter-final between Marseille and Benfica (gained by the French on penalties) and the second leg of the Convention semi-final between Olympiacos and Aston Villa (2-0).

With him, Italy boasts one victory and one draw

He has two earlier encounters with Italy: a 1-1 draw with Poland within the group stage of the 2018-19 Nations League and a 5-2 victory over North Macedonia final November within the final European qualifiers. He has by no means met Albania.