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With the biggest scandal in the history of German football over the past three decades, referee Robert Hoyzer admitted his guilt. The 25-year-old league referee confessed that the accusations of pre-arranged match results are true, although initially he denied the suspicions.
In a statement released by the referee's lawyers, it was stated: "The accusations that were made against me and brought to light are fundamentally correct. I deeply regret my behavior and apologize to the German Football Federation (DFB), my fellow referees, and all football fans."
The referee is suspected of being involved in match-fixing and betting scandals, helping bettors manipulate matches to increase their money.
It was last year's August match in the German cup tournament, known as "DFB-Pokal", between "Paderborn" and a different team, that raised suspicions about the referee's actions. The match was unexpectedly won by the Paderborn team with a score of 4-2, and in the first half of the match, the referee made questionable decisions by removing players from the field and awarding two questionable penalties to the Hamburg team. It later became known that enormous sums were being bet on this team's victory in German betting outlets.
After this unexpected defeat, the head coach of the Hamburg team, Klaus Toppmöller, was fired from his position.
There was a great deal of interest from DFB in five other matches, four of which were officiated by Hoyzer. These matches were lower league games between "Rot-Weiss Essen" and "Koeln", "Ahlen" and "Wacker Burghausen", "Paderborn" and "Chemnitzer", "Eintracht Braunschweig" and "St Pauli", and "Wuppertaler" and the second team of Bremen. There was also significant interest in these matches from betting outlets, with huge sums being bet and surprising results occurring.
Yesterday, the "Stern" magazine reported that Hoyzer had connections with the Croatian mafia. Currently, it is being investigated whether Hoyzer had contacts with the Croatian betting community in Berlin, but the DFB is inclined to support this version.
The country's Interior Minister, Otto Schilly, urges the DFB to quickly clarify and resolve this scandal and protect the reputation of German referees.
