CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Who is Felix Zwayer, the referee for Napoli - Barcelona in the Champions League?
The German takes charge of the round of 16 first leg in Naples as both teams attempt to put rare recent smiles on their respective sets of fans.
On Monday, UEFA announced the referees for this week’s Champions League matches, and the official in charge of the Napoli - Barça match – which you’ll be able to follow live on AS USA – in the Champions League round of 16 first leg, will be Felix Zwayer. The 42-year-old German referee has officiated in the Bundesliga since 2008 and has been an international referee since 2012. In this edition of Europe’s top competition, he has officiated in four matches, two of which involved Spanish teams (Atlético Madrid and Sevilla), with neither team managing to secure a victory in those.
Felix Zwayer history with Barcelona
Barça only have positive memories of Zwayer as they have encountered him just once before, resulting in a Barcelona victory against Tottenham (2-4) during the group stage of the 2018/19 season. Interestingly, Zwayer has never officiated a knockout round beyond the round of 16 in this prestigious European competition.
Felix Zwayer history with Napoli
The reigning Italian champions – who are really struggling this season, sitting 9th in Serie A and a whopping 27 points off leaders Inter Milan – have crossed paths with the German referee three times. If one word summarizes those encounters, it’s balance, as they won one, tied one, and lost one. Zwayer’s last significant appointment was the Bayer Leverkusen - Bayern Munich match, a game that the German handled with ease.
The trajectory of the German referee’s career was marred in 2005 when he was suspended for six months. At that time, Felix Zwayer was beginning his career as a referee, often serving as an assistant in many matches. It was later discovered that one of those games was manipulated, and the German referees Hoyzer and Marks were sentenced to 29 and 18 months in prison, respectively.