DFB sues Hoyzer after German match-fixing saga

8th January 2008

Berlin (dpa) – Imprisoned former referee Robert Hoyzer faces the final chapter in a German match-fixing scheme in the form of a 1.8 million euros (2.65 million dollars) compensation claim from the German football authorities before a Berlin court.

"We have an obligation to do this as a non-profit organization. He decided to sue because we can’t rule out that Mr Hoyzer will make money from the affair after his release from prison," German Football Federation (DFB) chief Theo Zwanziger told the publication “Die Welt”.

Hoyzer was sentenced to 29 months of imprisonment in November 2005 for rigging mainly lower-league matches and cup matches for a betting ring in Germany’s biggest football scandal in three decades. Hoyzer will not be present in court on Wednesday, according to his lawyer.

The DFB is seeking 1.5 million euros alone around a cup game which Bundesliga club SV Hamburg lost at lower-league Paderborn. Hoyzer, who was the referee, admitted to have fixed the game and received 67,000 euros and a plasma television set from the betting ring.

Ante Sapina, the main man of the betting ring, earned 700,000 euros from the game. Sapina last year agreed before a Berlin court to pay “Oddset” betting agent 1.8 million euros in compensation.

The DFB paid Hamburg 1.5 million in compensation for not advancing and not going to a sports court to have the match replayed, which would have created havoc with the cup competition.

Hoyzer has dismissed the compensation claim and his lawyer Thomas Hermes said Hoyzer could not be held responsible for the DFB paying Hamburg.

But Zwanziger insisted: "We wouldn’t have had to pay the money without Hoyzer’s wrong doing."

A settlement is not expected on Wednesday which means that both sides will likely be heard before the court at a later date.