Report: Soccer Referee Was Paid $65,000 to Fix Games

Germany’s biggest soccer scandal in more than 30 years deepened Friday when four people were arrested and a newspaper reported that a referee told prosecutors he was paid more than $65,000 to fix games.

The referee, Robert Hoyzer, admitted getting money for rigging three games and also implicated players and other refs, the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said.

Soccer’s governing body urged the German federation to resolve the scandal, which comes with the World Cup in Germany just more than a year away.

Hoyzer said he was present when other referees received money from a Croatian-controlled betting ring in Berlin and had heard of players getting paid, the newspaper reported.

Michael Grunwald, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutors office, said four people were arrested on suspicion of fraud during raids on four premises in Berlin, including the cafe where Hoyzer allegedly met with gamblers and bookmakers.

The Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper reported that the president of the German soccer federation said players could have been part of the fix.

“Even this cannot be ruled out anymore,” Theo Zwanziger told the newspaper. “That makes me sad.”

Hoyzer told the Bild newspaper “many more people are involved,” but declined to give details.

The federation has accused Hoyzer of manipulating five games, four lower-division games plus a German Cup game.

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Defensive midfielder Peter Vagenas, 26, who joined the Galaxy as a second-round draft pick out of UCLA in 2000 and who has played 91 games for the Major League Soccer team, signed a multi-year contract with the club.... Douglas Sequeira, a Costa Rican national team veteran midfielder, has been sent by club Saprissa in his native country to Chivas USA of MLS on a one-year loan.... The Kansas City Wizards re-signed defender Nick Garcia and signed former Galaxy midfielder Sasha Victorine, who was obtained in a trade, to multiyear contracts.

Boxing

Arturo Gatti will put his World Boxing Council junior welterweight title on the line tonight against “Jesse” James Leija at Atlantic City.

Gatti, 32, is hoping to parlay a victory into a big-money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., the WBC’s top-ranked challenger at 140 pounds.

Gatti (38-6) will be making his first title defense since a one-punch knockout of Frenchman Leonard Dorin six months ago. Leija, 38, comes in with a record of 47-6-1.

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World-ranked Jose Aguiniga of Oxnard won a unanimous 10-round decision over Phillip Payne of St. Louis in a super bantamweight fight in Oxnard.

Aguiniga (26-0, 12 knockouts) won every round and floored Payne (15-13-1) at the bell ending the seventh round.

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Scott Harrison (23-2-2) of Scotland retained his World Boxing Organization featherweight title by scoring a draw with Colombian Victor Polo (37-4-3) after sustaining a cut in the first round at Glasgow, Scotland.

Jurisprudence

Former Georgia coach Jim Donnan told a jury that he never offered money to a high school coach to try to get a commitment from his star football player.

Lynn Lang, the former head coach at Trezevant (Tenn.) High , testified earlier this week that he got offers of money and other perks from several schools before he accepted a $150,000 payoff from Memphis, Tenn., millionaire Logan Young to steer Albert Means to sign with Alabama in 2000.

Lawyers for Young, on trial for federal bribery and money laundering charges, called up Donnan and several other witnesses to poke holes in Lang’s testimony. They also asked Judge Daniel Breen to throw out the charges against Young.

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Rick Neuheisel’s lawyers can present evidence showing NCAA President Myles Brand ignored his own staff’s advice to stop talking publicly about an investigation into the coach’s gambling.

King County (Wash.) Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman rejected a motion by NCAA lawyers to bar that information at the former Washington football coach’s trial.

Pro Hockey

Angela Ruggiero, who grew up in Simi Valley, became the first woman to make more than a token appearance at a position other than goalie in a U.S. men’s professional hockey game, playing defense and getting an assist for the Tulsa (Okla.) Oilers.

Former USA goalie Erin Whitten skated for 18 seconds at forward for the Colonial League’s Flint Generals in 1996.

Ruggiero, a two-time Olympian, and her brother, Bill, the goaltender for the Oilers, are the first brother and sister to play together in a North American pro game.

Seconds after being checked on her third shift of the night, Ruggiero responded by slamming a Rio Grande Valley player into the boards.

In the third period, on her last shift, Ruggiero fired a pass to Jason Bermingham, who scored to give the Oilers a 7-2 victory in the Central Hockey League game.

Miscellany

Jean Racine led her U.S. bobsled team to a World Cup victory at St. Moritz, Switzerland, setting a track record in the second run. The victory by Racine and Vonetta Flowers in United States 1 moved the Americans into third place in the overall standings.

Switzerland 1 led until the final run, when Racine moved past Sabina Hafner’s sled to win in 2 minutes 17.82 seconds.

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Ryan St. Onge passed teammate Joe Pack on the final jump to win the men’s World Cup aerials at Park City, Utah.

St. Onge, who won his first World Cup event earlier this month, completed a triple-twisting triple back flip and nailed the landing to finish with a total score of 253.05.

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Germany has applied to have Berlin stage this year’s swimming world championships, which were taken away from Montreal because of local organizers’ failure to raise enough money. The championships are July 17-31. Athens is another possible site.