Archive May 12, 2025

German referee Felix Zwayer, who once served a ban for alleged involvement in a match-fixing plot, will take charge of next week’s all-English Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United.

Zwayer, now 43, was given a six-month suspension in 2006 after he was investigated for taking a £250 bribe from official Robert Hoyzer, who was subsequently handed a life ban.

It emerged that Zwayer, who has denied wrongdoing, was one of the officials to notify the authorities of Hoyzer’s match-fixing scheme and his relatively short ban was recognition of that.

Since the ban was imposed, Zwayer has become one of Europe’s leading referees and officiated in Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second leg defeat by Paris St-Germain last Wednesday.

Zwayer also took charge of England’s European Championship semi-final victory over the Netherlands last summer.

When England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham played for Borussia Dortmund, the midfielder was fined 40,000 euros (£34,000) in 2021 for criticising Zwayer by making a reference to his ban.

The Europa League final will be played in Bilbao on Wednesday, 21 May.

Bosnian Irfan Peljto will referee Chelsea’s Conference League final against Real Betis on 28 May in Wroclaw, Poland.

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Edgbaston (day four)

Warwickshire 665-5 dec: Latham 184, Barnard 177*, Malik 105*; Lawes 2-107

Surrey 504: Foakes 174*, Sibley 64, Steel 55; Yates 3-124 & 15-0 (f/o)

Warwickshire (13 pts) drew with Surrey (11 pts)

Ben Foakes harvested a career-best unbeaten 174 for champions Surrey as their County Championship match with Warwickshire drifted to a draw at Edgbaston.

Foakes amassed 174 from 361 balls, the last 107 of them in a 10th-wicket stand of 158 in 58 overs with Matt Fisher, who made 40, as Surrey totalled 504 in reply to Warwickshire’s 665-5.

On a bowlers’ graveyard of a pitch, the game’s third innings finally began at 3.15pm on the final day. Surrey, following on, reached 15 without loss before a merciful downpour arrived to wash out a pointless last session.

This was the 172nd County Championship match between these teams and although The Oval pitch on which they completed an entire game in one day in 1953 (Warwickshire 45 and 52, Surrey 146) may have been a bit too bowler-friendly, this was way too far the other way.

Surrey resumed on the last morning on 369-9, still 147 short of the follow on figure, but Warwickshire knew they had to polish off the first innings quickly if they were to press for victory.

The excellent Foakes ensured that didn’t happen and advanced down the pitch to strike Rob Yates for successive glorious sixes; the first took him to 9,000 first class runs and the second to his 17th first class century, from 197 balls.

Foakes and Fisher batted through the morning session to add 118 in 39 overs with a degree of comfort which only increased the mystery as to how Surrey’s batters got into a tangle on the third day.

At 131, the partnership between Foakes and Fisher became a 10th-wicket record for Surrey against Warwickshire, beating the 130 by Bert Strudwick and Bill Hitch at Edgbaston in 1911.

At lunch, it stood at 141, 32 short of the county’s 10th-wicket best against anyone – 173 by Andy Ducat and Andy Sandham against Essex at Leyton in 1921.

They advanced to within 15 of the record when Fisher edged Ed Barnard to wicketkeeper Alex Davies.

Despite having just spent 178.2 overs in the field, Warwickshire enforced the follow on with a minimum of 43 overs left in the day.

Their bowlers no doubt led the sense of collective relief when, after just five of those overs, a terminal thunderstorm arrived.

Warwickshire head coach Ian Westwood:

“We turned up this morning with a lot of hope and expectation and I think if we had managed to get that wicket early, out there with fresh legs and a new ball it might have been very interesting.

“But I don’t want today to put a dampener on how well we have played on the first three days.

“Yes, it was a good batting pitch but we got stuck in and managed to get a big total and then I thought the highlight was yesterday’s performance with the ball. The effort and skill was fantastic.

“It’s been a good start to the season. We were desperate to win this game but a solid, high-scoring draw against Surrey is not the worst result by any means and puts us in a good place going into the next two games before we go into the T20.”

Surrey wicketkeeper Ben Foakes:

“We had one job to do and just had to bat as long as possible. Matt (Fisher) batted really well – it helped that he is not a number 11.

“I have felt alright so far this season. We have played on some pretty good pitches away from home and I have managed to cash in.

“It’s not easy taking wickets on these pitches so we have got to try and work out ways to get wickets. There definitely are ways to get wickets, you’ve got to be creative on pitches like that.

Emma Raducanu’s encouraging Italian Open run came to an end in the last 16 as world number three Coco Gauff proved too much of a step up in class.

Raducanu, ranked 49th in the world, lost 6-1 6-2 on the Rome clay to American Gauff.

For the first time in her career, the British number two had won three clay-court matches in a row to reach the fourth round in the Italian capital.

But any hopes she could cause a shock against 21-year-old Gauff were soon extinguished.

Like Raducanu in 2021, Gauff’s sole major victory so far came on the hard courts of the US Open two years ago but on Monday she showed why she is also a force on the red dirt.

Gauff, who reached the French Open final three years ago, returned superbly from the start and also dug deep in service games when required.

“Emma is a tough opponent no matter what surface and always tough to play – so I’m happy with how I played,” Gauff told Sky Sports afterwards.

“My level is getting better every match and [reaching the] Madrid [final] was a step in the right direction.

Clay is a surface which does not come naturally to Raducanu.

Like most British players, the 22-year-old Briton had less exposure to the red dirt in her formative years and lacks experience on these courts as a professional.

Raducanu’s meeting against Gauff was only the 21st clay-court match of her career – compared to 81 on hard courts and 20 on the grass.

Therefore, it is no surprise she is still – by her own accord – finding her feet on the surface.

Beating Australian teenager Maya Joint, Switzerland’s Jil Teichman and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova to reach the Rome last 16 represented solid progress.

Facing Gauff was a different proposition.

While Raducanu’s movement has improved on the clay, it was not enough to hang tough consistently with Gauff in the rallies.

Gauff’s weight of shot proved difficult to cope with and, although Raducanu did regularly manage to get herself into the points, the American’s superior athleticism meant it was difficult for the Briton to dictate them.