Four arrested in alleged German rigging scandal

BERLIN, March 10 (Reuters) Four people were arrested this week as a result of an investigation into alleged match fixing in German soccer, Frankfurt state prosecutors said today.

The alleged match fixing involves the second division and regional league in connection with a suspected betting fraud, they said in a statement.

Players have been approached and offered several thousand euros if they could influence the result of at least five games.

In at least one case such a payment was accepted, they added.

Chief prosecutor Thomas Bechtel said the four had been arrested on Monday and were being detained. He said he would not name them nor say which teams were involved in order not to hamper the investigation which was only starting.

The German Football Association (DFB) said it was probing claims that matches in the amateur regional league might have been fixed this season.

The DFB said in a statement that it had no evidence yet and had handed all relevant information to the state prosecutors in Frankfurt.

The ruling body said it could not confirm that second division games were involved.

NO REFEREE The DFB said the new cases were not of the magnitude of last year's scandal that embarrassed the authorities preparing to host the 2006 World Cup finals.

German referee Robert Hoyzer was sentenced to two years and five months in prison last November after admitting fixing several matches in return for payment from a Croatian ringleader.

''We have to state clearly that, according to the results of the ongoing investigation, no referee is involved and no first division club is concerned,'' DFB chief executive Theo Zwanziger said in a statement.

German soccer authorities could have lived without another scandal less than three months before the start of the June 9-July 9 World Cup finals in Germany.

''As long as there is money circulating around games, sadly, you cannot rule out manipulation and cheating,'' Zwanziger said.

The scandal involving Hoyzer tarnished the reputation of German soccer.

In the most notorious match-rigging incident, Hoyzer awarded regional league side Paderborn two penalties to help them come from two goals down to knock out first division Hamburg SV in the first round of the German Cup. He also sent off Hamburg striker Emile Mpenza.

Zwanziger said after the verdict that he hoped the jail sentence received by Hoyzer would make people think before trying to fix matches.

REUTERS AY RK1823