German investigations widen

Germany's Football Association (DFB) widened its investigation into suspected match-rigging to look at five more games yesterday, while a local public prosecutor's office launched its own probe into the scandal.

German referee Robert Hoyzer, who has denied allegations of match-fixing, is suspected by the DFB of rigging a Cup match he took charge of last August after betting on the result.

The DFB held a five-hour meeting yesterday as an issue that has shocked German football threatened to overshadow the announcement of ticket sales procedures for the 2006 World Cup, which Germany is hosting.

After the hastily convened meeting, the DFB said they had further suspicions over two second division matches and three regional league matches.

Four of the five games were refereed by the 25-year-old Hoyzer, who has never taken charge of a first division game. The DFB, who said they would hear from further witnesses in the case this week, confirmed that the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig had started an investigation into the allegations.

Hoyzer, who resigned from the DFB on Friday, flatly denied having bet on any match he had taken charge of.

"I have never bet on a game I have refereed," he told Germany's Bild newspaper on yesterday.

"The accusations have left me pensive, uneasy and dismayed. I cannot comprehend them, and also cannot understand that my refereeing colleagues could think me capable of such a thing."