{"id":24203,"date":"2026-06-20T16:46:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/referee-felix-zwayer-collapses-in-his-first-fifa-world-cup-outing-video-goes-viral-football-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T16:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:16:41","slug":"referee-felix-zwayer-collapses-in-his-first-fifa-world-cup-outing-video-goes-viral-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/referee-felix-zwayer-collapses-in-his-first-fifa-world-cup-outing-video-goes-viral-football-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Referee Felix Zwayer collapses in his first FIFA World Cup outing; video goes viral | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131874053,imgsize-333008,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/131874053.jpg\" alt=\"Referee Felix Zwayer collapses in his first FIFA World Cup outing; video goes viral\" title=\"In a startling incident during Australia's World Cup clash with the USA, referee Felix Zwayer collapsed due to heat exhaustion, prompting a six-minute stoppage. Demonstrating a spirit of sportsmanship, Australian defender Aiden O'Neill rushed to aid Zwayer, providing leg stretches. Remarkably, Zwayer managed to recover and continue officiating, etching a memorable moment into the tournament's history.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"In a startling incident during Australia's World Cup clash with the USA, referee Felix Zwayer collapsed due to heat exhaustion, prompting a six-minute stoppage. Demonstrating a spirit of sportsmanship, Australian defender Aiden O'Neill rushed to aid Zwayer, providing leg stretches. Remarkably, Zwayer managed to recover and continue officiating, etching a memorable moment into the tournament's history.\">In a startling incident during Australia&#8217;s World Cup clash with the USA, referee Felix Zwayer collapsed due to heat exhaustion, prompting a six-minute stoppage. Demonstrating a spirit of sportsmanship, Australian defender Aiden O&#8217;Neill rushed to aid Zwayer, providing leg stretches. Remarkably, Zwayer managed to recover and continue officiating, etching a memorable moment into the tournament&#8217;s history.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a tournament packed with surprising incidents, another unusual moment unfolded as debutant referee Felix Zwayer fell victim to the scorching heat on Friday.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"1\"\/>Before Australia suffered a 0-2 defeat to the United States, Zwayer hit the ground after being overwhelmed by the conditions.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>The German referee appeared to be in considerable pain during the injury time.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"7\"\/> <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EvilDelap\/status\/2068077564250227005?s=20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>The players had to endure an additional six-minute delay after a sharp bout of cramps struck the referee.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/>&#8220;Oh, here we go. I\u2019ve seen it all now. The referee\u2019s cramping,&#8221; former Australian right-back Luke Wilkshire said on commentary.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>&#8220;That\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve seen a player help a referee in that way,&#8221; broadcaster David Basheer added, referring to the moment when Australian defender Aiden O&#8217;Neill stepped in to help Zwayer stretch out the cramps.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>The cameras remained focused on the referee as he was offered a drink to aid his recovery. Standing just outside the touchline, assistant referee Katia Garcia quickly rushed over with refreshments.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>Watch:<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>Garcia was also seen warming up and appeared ready to take Zwayer&#8217;s place should the situation require it.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/>After receiving treatment and assistance from the players, Zwayer picked up the whistle and got back on his feet. He completed the rest of the game as the incident added another memorable chapter to this World Cup.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"32\"\/>Although Zwayer has officiated on some of football&#8217;s biggest stages, including the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League, the group-stage fixture on Friday marked his first appearance at the <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/fifa-world-cup\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">FIFA World Cup<\/a>.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/>Co-hosts USA, meanwhile, had little to complain about as they secured a 2-0 victory over Australia and booked their place in the knockout stage, joining Mexico in advancing from the tournament during a hot summer afternoon in Seattle.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/football\/fifa-world-cup\/debutant-referee-felix-zwayer-collapses-in-his-first-fifa-world-cup-outing-video-goes-viral\/articleshow\/131874053.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a startling incident during Australia&#8217;s World Cup clash with the USA, referee Felix Zwayer collapsed due to heat exhaustion, prompting a six-minute stoppage. Demonstrating a spirit of sportsmanship, Australian defender Aiden O&#8217;Neill rushed to aid Zwayer, providing leg stretches. Remarkably, Zwayer managed to recover and continue officiating, etching a memorable moment into the tournament&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}