German referee Merk bitter over corruption case

Leading German referee Markus Merk refused to even utter the name of former colleague Robert Hoyzer on Tuesday as he spoke of the bitterness and betrayal he felt at the country's match-fixing scandal.

"I've taken that name out of my vocabulary forever," said Merk, who looked close to tears when speaking of German football's biggest corruption case in more than 30 years.

The country has been shocked by revelations from 25-year-old Berlin referee Hoyzer, who has admitted fixing games and has implicated several other German referees in his statements to Berlin prosecutors.

"These past days have been difficult for us," said Merk. "They have been bitter days, too, because football and refereeing are a part of me.

"Four weeks ago, I would have staked my life on any of my colleagues, my team," added Merk, who was speaking at a workshop attended by 46 candidate referees for the 2006 World Cup.

Merk pledged to do all he could to restore the credibility of his profession. "The positive thing about this is that people have come up to me and asked me to help in restoring football's credibility," said Merk, one of FIFA's most senior referees.

"The coming weeks will be difficult but we accept the challenge. We will fight to make football credible again."

Hoyzer has been under arrest on charges of eight counts of suspected organised fraud after prosecutors said they had fresh evidence that his involvement in match-fixing may have begun prior to 2004.

The German Football Association (DFB) is considering 14 matches they describe as being under suspicion of match-fixing.

The DFB has formally suspended Hoyzer and another referee, Dominik Marks, who is said to be under "urgent suspicion" of match-fixing.

Marks is also suspected of aiding Hoyzer in trying to recruit another referee, Torsten Koop, who has also been suspended for not coming forward soon enough.

Juergen Jansen, a first division referee also implicated by Hoyzer, strongly denies any involvement. Felix Zwayer, a second division referee, is another under investigation.