Referee Felix Zwayer reports death threats

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Felix Zwayer with Dortmund's Jude Bellingham

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Bernd Thissen / dpa

According to his own statements, referee Felix Zwayer was violently attacked after the fuss about his person at the Bundesliga summit between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

"There have been numerous messages on my business email account that are incredible and that are very difficult to deal with and ignore," said the currently inactive 40-year-old on the Sky program "My Story".

The Berlin police wrote to him "that there was a death threat against me on the Internet".

Zwayer was criticized by Dortmund after their 3-2 defeat in early December.

BVB young star Jude Bellingham verbally attacked the referee.

The Englishman had indirectly accused Zwayer of bribery, alluding to the 17-year-old Robert Hoyzer scandal.

Zwayer said he "couldn't hide his reactions from his wife" as a result.

"Especially because they got incredibly close to me." This is a situation "that is difficult to bear, to be honest - that is very difficult to bear," says Zwayer.

Zwayer has been taken out of the current game by the DFB for the time being.

It is currently unclear when he will whistle again.

aha/dpa