Jude Bellingham Fined For Telling The Truth

The English player called out a German ref.

England midfielder Jude Bellingham has been fined 40,000 euros ($45,011) by the German Football Association after questioning the appointment of referee Felix Zwayer for Borussia Dortmund's Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich.

Bellingham criticized Zwayer after Dortmund's 3-2 defeat on Saturday, which included a controversial penalty decision for Bayern.

Speaking to Viaplay, Bellingham said: "You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?

The 18-year-old has been fined for "unsportsmanlike behavior".

Dortmund will not appeal.

Bellingham was just telling the truth though. In 2005, Zwayer was involved in the match fixing scandal which centered around German referee Robert Hoyzer, who took bribes to fix several matches which he officiated. Zwayer assisted him in a match and accepted a bribe of 300 euros to avoid critical scenes for Wuppertaler SV.

In January 2005, he and three other high-ranking referees informed the DFB about Hoyzer's match fixing. He was subsequently banned from refereeing for 6 months, a suspension that was kept secret for several years until the German newspaper Die Zeit published a secret file from the German FA.