A referee on Thursday admitted to fixing matches in Germany's lower divisions and German Cup competition and said he was ready to cooperate with prosecutors to clear up the country's biggest soccer corruption scandal in more than 30 years.
"The accusations made against me in the public are true," the referee, Robert Hoyzer, said in a statement distributed by his lawyer.
PHOTO: AP
"I regret my behavior profoundly and I excuse myself to the German soccer federation, my referee colleagues and all soccer fans," Hoyzer said.
Volker Roth, the federation's referees supervisor, said Hoyzer's actions were "inexcusable."
"We are shocked, we never thought something like this was possible. But there is nothing you can do against criminal energy," Roth said after an emergency meeting with 44 first- and second-division referees.
Rudi Assauer, general manager of first-division Schalke, said the affair was "a punch in the face" of German soccer.
"This case is exactly what should not be happening one year before the World Cup," Assauer said. Germany will stage the 2006 World Cup.
In an attempt to prevent future manipulation, the German soccer federation (DFB) 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, the DFB said.
Because of legal formalities, there was no immediate ban on betting by referees. The 44 referees who attended the DFB's emergency meeting all gave assurances that 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 more 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.
The DFB had accused Hoyzer of manipulating at least five games in lower divisions and German Cup competition after betting on them. He initially denied the charges. No top-division games were involved.
Hoyzer said he had given a "comprehensive, no-holds-barred account of everything he knew about the case and persons involved it in" to his lawyer, Stephan Holthoff-Pfoertner.
He did not say who else was involved.
On the N24 channel, Hoyzer said other people connected to soccer were involved and confirmed that he had received a five-digit sum for fixing matches.
The 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, 25, said he was willing to testify before state prosecutors and the DFB.
"If he does, it would be helpful," said Michael Grunwald, spokesman for Berlin's state prosecutor's office.
The DFB's charges specified that Hoyzer had contacts to bettors in a Berlin bar "mostly visited by Croats," Grunwald said.
The DFB first suspected Hoyzer of manipulating a German Cup game in August, then expanded its probe to five other games. Hoyzer did not officiate one of them.
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 Paderborn to win, but the DFB could not find any indications of match-fixing.
However, the DFB reopened its investigation after four referees alerted soccer authorities that games may have been fixed by Hoyzer.
The last major corruption scandal to hit Germany was 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 and their presidents and coaches suspended.
Separated by no more than two points since mid-October, and now tied on points atop the Bundesliga, Bayern and Schalke are looking at each other to see who will blink first. The two head into the weekend's 19th round with Bayern ahead on goal difference and neither having lost since at least November.
While the two-way battle for the title should be captivating the fans' attention, it's the headlines on a match-fixing scandal that have dominated the week.
A referee has been charged by the German soccer federation (DFB) of manipulating the results of five games after betting on them. None were in the top division. The referee has denied the charges.
With 37 points each, Schalke travels to Kaiserslautern on Saturday, while Bayern goes to Berlin on Sunday.
Bayern has a tougher trip. Hertha Berlin is unbeaten in its last eight and has risen to fifth with 29 points. Falko Goetz' team has the stingiest defense in the Bundesliga, having conceded 17 goals.
With two Brazilians, Marcelinho and Gilberto, setting the tone, Berlin has become one of more entertaining sides. Marcelinho also has nine goals to his credit.
Berlin's vaunted defense will be tested by Bayern's potent attack, which is second in the league with 36 goals.
"There is nothing better than a sold out home game against Bayern Munich," Goetz said.
The Olympic stadium in Berlin, the venue of next year's World Cup final, is expecting a capacity crowd of 74,500.
Bayern travels well -- Felix Magath's team has won four of its eight games on the road.
Hertha is not exactly a threat at home -- it has won only two and drawn five of eight games at its stadium.
Bayern will be without defender Bixente Lizarazu, who tore a muscle last week in his first game since returning to Munich. French compatriot Willy Sagnol also is recovering from an injury.
Kaiserslautern, which struggled at the bottom early in the season, has improved to 10th place, will be looking to avenge two losses to Schalke in the fall -- once in the German Cup and once in the league.
The match will also mark a return to familiar grounds for Schalke's midfielder Lincoln.
Lincoln left Kaiserslautern at the end of last season, with questions raised about his commitment.
In Schalke, however, the Brazilian has blossomed into one of the most influential playmakers in the league.
"I hope the fans will receive me well, because I always was and still am an honest player," Lincoln said.
In other matches, third-placed Stuttgart (34 points) is home to Nuremberg and will be eager to use any mishaps by Bayern or Schalke, while fourth-place Wolfsburg (30), losers in four of its last five matches, is away to last-place Freiburg.
Also Saturday, Hamburger SV hopes to bounce back from a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Bayern when it hosts Mainz, which has lost four straight and plummted to 12th after holding a place fifth or higher for as many as seven weeks earlier this season.
Arminia Bielefeld hosts Hannover and Borussia Dortmund plays Borussia Moenchengladbach in the other Saturday matches.
On Sunday, defending champion Werder Bremen hosts Hansa Rostock. After losing at Schalke 2-1 last week, Bremen has slipped to seventh place and is nine points behind the leaders.
Nine-year-old Brazilian soccer player Jean Carlos Cherao is attracting interest from Manchester United and other top European teams.
Jean, 1.37m and 34kg, plays for the youth teams of Associacao Desportiva Atletica, a small club in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.
"Seven or eight European clubs have already contacted us to know more about Jean," team president Adilson Batista Prado said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "They want to know what he is all about, and I tell them he's a phenomenon, probably the best player to come out of Brazil."
Prado and team officials would not identify all the clubs interested in Jean, but confirmed that representatives of Manchester United have asked for videotapes of his matches.
Prado said teams from Portugal, France and Germany have made contact, and local media identified FC Porto as one of the teams.
The club said the European clubs haven't made official offers yet, but some have asked for permission to send representatives, and others have invited the midfielder and his family to go to Europe.
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CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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