Hoyzer admits guilt in trial

German referee Robert Hoyzer admitted his central role in the country's match-fixing scandal in a court yesterday, but said he had been lured into rigging games by the fraud's alleged ringleader.

"Firstly I would like to confirm that the facts set out in the indictment are largely true," Hoyzer told the court at the start of his testimony.

Referees Hoyzer and Dominik Marks and former first division player Steffen Karl are charged with organised fraud for seeking to rig matches last year in return for payments from Ante Sapina, aided by his brothers Filip and Milan.

Hoyzer described how he had got to know Ante Sapina, who prosecutors say netted over two million euros ($2.4 million) from betting agencies, mostly state-controlled Oddset.

Dressed in a three-piece suit and orange tie, he told the court he had visited a bar in central Berlin owned by Milan and related how Ante had held in the air a betting slip that had won him 47,000 euros.

Hoyzer indicated the slip had served as bait. "The idea that someone could win so much money was utopian for me," Hoyzer told presiding judge Gerti Kramer.

"Later I learned that he (Ante) wanted to win me over for his purposes," Hoyzer said, adding he initially expressed some reluctance to rig games, especially in the second division.

The 26-year-old Hoyzer has already been banned for life by the German football association.