Marco Haase has filed a complaint against Jude Bellingham following his statements about referee Felix Zwayer after the game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich (2-3). BILD writes that, in the near future, prosecutors will investigate whether Bellingham can be prosecuted for Policy, Nachrede und Verleumdung, which translates as insult, libel and slander.
Bellingham was furious about the penalty that eventually gave Bayern the victory in Dortmund. At a 2-2 score, Mats Hummels unfortunately got the ball against the arm in a header, after which Zwayer gave Bayern a penalty. “What else do you expect when you give Germany’s biggest match to someone who previously did match fixing?” Bellingham reacted in front of the camera of viaplay.
BELTINGHAM: – You give a referee that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?
(@JanAageFjortoft) pic.twitter.com/H5yU9hz6PT
— Viaplay Fotball (@ViaplayFotball) Dec 4, 2021
Bellingham was referring to a 2005 match-fixing case involving Zwayer. The latter took a bribe of 300 euros at the time to ensure that 2. Bundesliga club Wuppertaler SV would not lose as a linesman. Zwayer was banned for six months by the German Football Association. The suspension was initially kept secret, but came out years later thanks to the German newspaper Die Zeit.
Those statements have a tail for Bellingham. Haase was Saturday night as so-called Referee-Beobachter present in the Signal Iduna Park. This is a generally older, more experienced former referee who sits in the stands as an observer during the matches to judge the performance of the arbitrator. In this case, Referee-Beobachter Haase filed a complaint against Bellingham and former referee Manuel Gräfe, who was in the studio of ZDF also spoke out about Zwayer’s involvement in the 2005 match-fixing case.
Bellingham should not only fear criminal charges. Anton Nachreiner has on SID let it be known that the disciplinary committee of the DFB will also investigate the statements of the eighteen-year-old midfielder. “His statement is not wrong, although he doesn’t have to say it,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke, Borussia Dortmund’s general manager, Bellingham. “This comes from emotions. Jude didn’t offend anyone, he just stated a fact. I can’t imagine that this will have any adverse consequences for him.”
“The boy is eighteen and talking after an emotional match. He mentions old facts, you don’t have to. But it is in the world now and we will stand behind it. I see no reason to fear criminal prosecution,” said Michael Zorc, director of player policy at Borussia Dortmund. Oliver Kahn, Bayern’s general manager, however, does not stand up for Bellingham. “I’m the last person who doesn’t understand players’ emotions. But this is of course a huge step too far. I don’t remember a player ever saying such a thing. I don’t know how he manages to make such a statement.”