Jude Bellingham, who plays as a midfielder for England and Borussia Dortmund, had commented about referee Felix Zwayer’s past involvement in a match-fixing scandal. The German Football Association has opened an investigation into the 18-year old’s comments that came after his side lost the Der Klassiker tie against archrivals Bayern Munich. 

Riding on Robert Lewandowski’s controversial penalty late in the game, Bayern defeated Dortmund 3-2. 

After the match, an angry Bellingham claimed that costly decisions, referring to the penalty, by referee Felix Zwayer in Saturday’s game were to be expected given his history of match-fixing. 

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The English star was referring to Zwayer’s alleged role as a linesman in the scandal involving referee Robert Hoyzer. 

While Hoyzer had confessed to taking mafia money in return for affecting the outcome of German Cup and lower division matches, Zwayer suspended for six months for keeping silent though he knew what the referee was doing. Hoyzer was jailed.  

After the Bayern loss, Bellingham questioned why Zwayer did not award a penalty to his side in the second half and gave one to Lewandowski, which proved to be the winner. 

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The Dortmund midfielder will be asked to explain his comments to the DFB’s disciplinary committee. 

“You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game. If you give a referee who has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany, what do you expect?” Bellingham told Norwegian channel Viaplay.

The club on Sunday said they would stand by Bellingham.

“What he said isn’t wrong, even if he didn’t have to say it. You have to put it down to the emotions of an 18-year-old. Jude didn’t insult anyone, he stated a fact,” Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke told Kicker magazine.