German Soccer Federation to take bets
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-29 08:45

The German soccer federation announced plans Thursday to set up its own bookmaking operation and banned all betting on games by players, coaches, officials and referees in the wake of the country's match-fixing scandal.

"We want a fair part of this market," federation co-president Theo Zwanziger said. "We can't allow soccer to remain a platform for others to make a profit while we get used."

The soccer betting market is estimated to be worth about $3.9 billion a year in Germany.

The decisions were made an emergency session of the federation's general assembly attended by 253 delegates. The assembly was called in reaction to the country's worst match-fixing scandal in more than 30 years.

Referee Robert Hoyzer in January admitted receiving $87,000 from Croatian gamblers to fix games. He has confessed to manipulating four games and trying to fix three others.

Berlin prosecutors are investigating 25 people — including four referees and 14 players — suspected of fixing at least 10 games, mostly in lower divisions.

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