Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham has been fined $45,000 (40,000 euros) for comments he made about referee Felix Zwayer following his side’s 3-2 defeat against Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Talking about Zwayer’s decision to award a penalty to Bayern for a handball against Mats Hummels, Bellingham told Viaplay Fotball: “You can look at a lot of decisions in the game. You give a referee, that has match fixed before, the biggest game in Germany – what do you expect?”
Zwayer was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in Germany in 2005 and, at the time, said that he had never deliberately influenced the result of a match.
According to Reuters, the DFB, the governing body for football in Germany, banned Zwayer for six months for his involvement in the scandal.
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In a statement on Tuesday, the DFB said that the fine had been issued to Bellingham due to “unsportsmanlike behavior” as his comments had “doubted the impartiality of the referee.”
Saturday’s result saw Bayern move four points ahead of Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga.
CNN’s Nina Avramova contributed to reporting.
