Whistles after bitter half-time
Referee Zwayer becomes a lightning rod for Turkish fans
22.06.2024, 21:03
The Turkish national football team was a disappointment in its second European Championship match against Portugal. After a bitter first half, the frustration of tens of thousands of Turkish fans was vented on referee Felix Zwayer. However, he had hardly done anything wrong.
When Felix Zwayer blew the halftime whistle at 6:46 p.m. in the match between European Championship co-favorites Portugal and Turkey, he felt anger and hatred. A chorus of whistles erupted at the German referee. The term “shrill”, used inflationary in sports journalism because it is often used (too) often when more than one spectator puts their fingers between their lips -, was appropriate here. It didn’t stop at whistles. The 43-year-old also heard the horrible German word with “H…”.
What had Zwayer done wrong? Not much, if you look at it objectively. Sure, he might have been a little petty here and there, blaming the Turks for one or two tackles that didn’t need to be punished. Conversely, he had let the Portuguese get away with a little more in some duels. But Zwayer hadn’t made any serious mistakes, or even game-deciding ones. It wasn’t his fault that the Turks, who had no chance, were 2-0 down when his whistle brought the game to a halt.
The referee, who is not without controversy in Germany, served as a scapegoat, a lightning rod, for the Turkish supporters. As is the case in football: if things aren’t going well for your own team, the referee has to take the blame. Perhaps the whistles had built up because the Turkish fans – unlike four days ago against Georgia – did not mercilessly tear down the opponent’s anthem at the request of their own team.
The mistakes are made by the Turks, not Zwayer
But Zwayer had not failed in his attempt to clear a cross – that was the Turkish defender Orkun Kökcü. And the referee certainly had not made the hair-raising bad pass that became an own goal and gave the Portuguese team, including superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, a 2-0 lead – that was Samet Akaydin.
Zwayer certainly wasn’t a brilliant referee, and he didn’t exude the aura of someone who knew the rules, like Pierluigi Collina, for example. But he refereed the game properly. Felix Zwayer didn’t “bring a great disgrace” to the guild of referees, as his former Bundesliga colleague Manuel Gräfe had disparagingly written in a late-night report on X a few days ago. Other referees from Germany “deserve” to be called on at their home European Championships, Gräfe said caustically, and Zwayer was “average at best.” The ZDF expert often criticizes his former assistant, some suspect a campaign, others even suspect a witch hunt.
Gräfe rants like a mantra that Zwayer is a favorite of the DFB who only got this far thanks to good relationships and association-appropriate behavior. The ex-referee is annoyed – but not the only one – that Zwayer has had such a career, and was allowed to have one, despite his involvement in the betting and manipulation scandal involving Robert Hoyzer in the early 2000s. Zwayer was banned for six months at the time because he kept quiet, thus allowing further manipulation to take place. He served the ban. After that, things went steeply upwards for him, even if doubts and accusations were always present whenever Zwayer took the next step.
No room for attack after the break
For the Portugal vs Turkey match on Saturday evening, an average referee performance was more than enough. The Portuguese did not deliver more than average either, despite their clear victory. And the Turks? They were the only below-average players on the pitch that evening. The team of Italian coach Vincenzo Montealla was shown its limits by the 2016 European champions.
After the restart, Zwayer moved into the background, giving the fans no opportunity to attack. He couldn’t do that anyway, as it was a slow game. Portugal soon scored 3:0 – at that point, even the last person realized why the Turks lost this game in Group F. Because they were inferior to their favored opponent in every respect. That’s how it is in football.
In the end, even the sharp-tongued Gräfe showed leniency: “Zwayer again showed weaknesses in tackles, so there was unrest before half-time, but with the score 0:3 it was not relevant,” he said on X – still in the early evening.