Jude Bellingham sparked police investigation with controversial comment about Europa League final referee
Jude Bellingham once started a police investigation over his comments about the referee that is set to oversee this season's Europa League final.
In just over a week, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will face off in an all-English Europa League final at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao.
The match will be overseen by German referee Felix Zwayer, who recently worked as the lead official for Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain in France last week.
However, ahead of the highly-anticipated match, previous comments from England superstar Bellingham have resurfaced that led to an official police investigation.
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Before he joined Real Madrid on a six-year deal for a €103m (£88.5m) transfer fee, Bellingham spent three seasons playing for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.
During this time, Zwayer oversaw the December 2021 Der Klassiker clash between Dortmund and domestic rivals Bayern Munich, a game which ended as a 3-2 win to Bayern due to several controversial penalty claims.
And after the game Bellingham made a series of wild accusation about the German referee, claiming that he had previously been involved in match fixing.
Speaking to ViaPlay, Bellingham 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."
The midfielder's comments referred to the six-month ban that the German FA handed to Zwayer in 2005 following a match-fixing scandal.
The scandal claims that Zwayer, who was then working as a linesman, allegedly accepted a €300 (£253.82) bribe from a fellow referee to favour second-tier club Wuppertaler SV in their match against Werder Bremen Amateure in May 2004.
Match referee Robert Hoyzer was later banned for life over the incident, while Zwayer was given a shorter ban due to him being part of a group that brought the match-fixing plot to light.
Shortly after Bellingham's interview, an official investigation being launched by both the German police and the German Football Association, who ultimately decided to hand the England star a €40,000 (£34,000) fine.
Topics: Jude Bellingham, Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Europa League, Man Utd
Ben McCrum