Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has been hit with a €40,000 fine after ‘questioning a referee’s impartiality’ during his side’s defeat to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
The Englishman has been charged with “unsportsmanlike behaviour”, after he referenced referee Felix Zwayer’s involvement in a match-fixing scandal in 2005 during his post-match interview.
The 18-year-old was left furious by several controversial decisions made by Zwayer, who was banned for six months for his part in the aforementioned scandal, in the 3-2 loss.
Zwayer turned down Dortmund’s appeals for a penalty and later awarded Bayern a spot-kick after Mats Hummels was deemed to have handled in the area.
A statement from the German Football Association (DFB) read: "The sports court of the DFB fined Jude Bellingham with a fine of 40,000 euros in single judge proceedings after the DFB control committee had brought charges for unsportsmanlike behaviour.
"The player of the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund has already agreed to the judgment, the judgment is now final.
"After the Bundesliga match against Bayern Munich on Saturday, Bellingham said in a TV interview about referee Felix Zwayer: ‘You give a referee who has already match-fixing the biggest game in Germany. What do you expect?’.
"As a result, he had questioned the referee’s impartiality and ultimately denied it."
Robert Lewandowski converted Bayern’s 77th-minute penalty to clinch a 3-2 win at Signal Iduna Park, which lifted them four points clear of Dortmund at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Additional reporting by PA.
