European: referee admits to fixing games

Referee admits to fixing games in Germany

By NESHA STARCEVIC, Associated Press Writer
January 27, 2005
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- A year before Germany hosts the World Cup, a referee's admission that he fixed games has the country reeling from its biggest soccer scandal in more than 30 years.

Referee Robert Hoyzer said Thursday that he's ready to cooperate with prosecutors.

``The accusations made against me in the public are true,'' referee Robert Hoyzer said in a statement issued by his lawyer. ``I regret my behavior profoundly and I excuse myself to the German soccer federation, my referee colleagues and all soccer fans.''


The German soccer federation (DFB) accused Hoyzer of manipulating the outcomes of at least five games in Germany's lower divisions and the German Cup after betting on them. He initially denied the charges.

``This case is exactly what should not be happening one year before the World Cup,'' said Rudi Assauer, general manager of first-division club Schalke.

``We are shocked; we never thought something like this was possible,'' added Volker Roth, the DFB's supervisor of referees. ``But there is nothing you can do against criminal energy.''

Some changes already have been made. The federation said it would announce referee assignments two days before games, instead of 10. It also will expand its system of monitoring games and referee performances.

Because of legal issues, there was no immediate ban on betting by referees. But the 44 referees who attended the DFB's emergency meeting said they had never placed bets and would not do so in the future.

The federation also plans to use an ``early warning system'' connected to bookmakers to detect unusual betting patterns.

Horst Hilpert, the head of DFB's control committee conducting the probe, said Hoyzer's admission ``confirms fully'' what the investigation has uncovered so far -- ``that Robert Hoyzer is suspected of profiting from high sums bet on games officiated by him.''

His committee was questioning 14 other match officials, Hilpert said.

Hilpert said he expected Hoyzer to be questioned soon by state prosecutors before another hearing by the DFB. ``It's an isolated case, we don't see another black sheep,'' he said.

Hoyzer, 25, said he had given a ``comprehensive, no-holds-barred account of everything he knew about the case and persons involved in it'' to his lawyer, Stephan Holthoff-Pfoertner.

The N24 television news channel said Hoyzer had implicated others and acknowledged the existence of an organized crime betting group.

According to a television channel in Berlin, TV.BERLIN, Hoyzer received a ``five-digit'' sum to manipulate games.

The German magazine Stern reported Wednesday that Hoyzer had regular contact with organized criminals from Croatia involved in betting. The DFB said it had also heard of such reports but had no means of verifying them.

On Wednesday, the DFB filed charges against Hoyzer with Berlin prosecutors, who are examining the case.

Hoyzer said he was willing to testify before state prosecutors and the DFB.

The DFB first suspected Hoyzer of manipulating a German Cup game in August. Then the federation expanded its probe to other games that he did not officiate.

In the German Cup game, third-division Paderborn rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat first-division Hamburger SV 4-2 after Hoyzer awarded two penalties to Paderborn and sent off a Hamburg player.

The game came under scrutiny because of Hoyzer's questionable decisions and because bookmakers had reported unusually high sums placed on a Paderborn win, but the DFB could not find indications of match-fixing.

However, the DFB reopened its investigation after four referees alerted soccer authorities that games might have been fixed by Hoyzer.

The last major corruption scandal in German soccer came in 1971, when 53 players from seven clubs received penalties ranging from fines to life bans. Two clubs, Arminia Bielefeld and Kickers Offenbach, were demoted to a lower division and their presidents and coaches were suspended.

do i read this right that the referees can bet on games??? if so that is insane, a system like that is a ticking time bomb

Because of legal issues, there was no immediate ban on betting by referees. But the 44 referees who attended the DFB's emergency meeting said they had never placed bets and would not do so in the future

I'm not surprised to be honest.

This isn't the first and won't be the last. It has been going on for ages involving Referees, players and everyone in football right down to the tea-lady. As for referees and even players betting on games, how can you stop them? If they don't do the bets then a friend or family member will put the wager on for them.

you get players doing it too, remember bruce grobealaar lol.

things like this will go on, maybe not the highest level. but in some places it will go on. its becoming a business and not a sport

am i right in assuming that betting on football games is leagal in europe?

As far as i know its not for players and officials...

Report: Soccer referee paid $65,000 to fix games

By NESHA STARCEVIC, Associated Press Writer
January 28, 2005
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Germany's biggest soccer scandal in more than 30 years deepened Friday when four people were arrested and a newspaper reported that a referee told prosecutors he was paid more than $65,000 to fix games.

The referee, Robert Hoyzer, admitted getting money for rigging three games and also implicated players and other refs, the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.

Soccer's governing body urged the German federation to resolve the scandal, which comes with the World Cup in Germany just more than a year away.


Hoyzer said he was present when other referees received money from a Croatian-controlled betting ring in Berlin and had heard of players getting paid, the newspaper reported.

Michael Grunwald, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutors office, said four people were arrested on suspicion of fraud during raids on four premises in Berlin, including the cafe where Hoyzer allegedly met with gamblers and bookmakers. No other details on the arrests were immediately available.

The newspaper, a respected Munich-based national daily, quoted Hoyzer's lawyer, Stephan Holthoff-Pfoertner, as saying the betting ring first gave Hoyzer ``small presents'' without asking anything in return.

``When they had him by the hook, they started asking for favors on the soccer field,'' he said, according to the newspaper.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper reported that the president of the German soccer federation said players could have been part of the fix.

``Even this cannot be ruled out any more,'' Theo Zwanziger told the newspaper. ``That makes me sad.''

A call by The Associated Press on Friday to the German federation was not immediately returned.

Hoyzer told the Bild newspaper ``many more people are involved,'' but declined to give details.

The federation has accused Hoyzer of manipulating five games, four lower-division games plus a German Cup game. No top-division games were involved. Another game, one Hoyzer did not officiate, is under investigation.

Holthoff-Pfoertner said on television that more games were compromised and the case involved ``several people working together in different functions.''

``I am particularly concerned about indications that there are links to organized crime,'' said Interior Minister Otto Schily, who is responsible for sports.

In 1971, 53 players from seven German teams received penalties ranging from fines to life bans. Two clubs, Arminia Bielefeld and Kickers Offenbach, were demoted and their presidents and coaches suspended.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter wrote to the German federation, suggesting it cooperate fully with authorities while making its own inquiry. He expected the federation to act in an ``exemplary manner.''

FIFA will hold a workshop for 46 referees in Frankfurt next month. The officials will be advised, among other things, on how to handle ``attempts to place them under pressure and illegal approaches from third parties,'' FIFA said

the refs over in germany will be coming under extra critiscimn, imagine managers getting a penalty giving against them will make them think perhaps.

its gonna make there job tougher