Hoyzer is a German soccer referee at the heart of a massive match-fixing scandal. He was sentenced Thursday to two years and five months in prison for fraud, drawing to a close a spectacular case that has gripped Germany for close to a year.

Hoyzer's jail sentence came as a major surprise. Prosecutors sought only a suspended two-year sentence, considering his previous confession and the fact he worked with them in building their case.

Presiding Judge Gerti Kramer disagreed with that recommendation, however, saying his actions merited jail time because, "it wasn't a youthful misdemeanour but a serious crime."

"He violated his important duty of neutrality," added Kramer.

Croatian gambler Ante Sapina was also convicted of fraud and given a 35-month prison term, the sentence requested by the prosecution, for running the betting syndicate. Sapina's brothers, Milan and Filip, were also given suspended sentences – Milan for 16 months and Filip for 12 months.

Also convicted was Dominik Marks, another referee fingered by Hoyzer. Marks was given a suspended 18-month sentence, but unlike Hoyzer and Ante Sapina, he has disputed his role in the match-fixing scheme.

The foundations of German sport were rocked in January when Hoyzer told state prosecutors that a Croatian-controlled betting ring based in Berlin paid him $108,350 Cdn to manipulate four games and to rig three others.

Games in the Bundesliga – Germany's premier league – were not involved in the match-fixing scandal. But prosecutors say 23 lower division games were fixed from April to December of 2004.

Hoyzer's career as a referee began to unravel when it was revealed that he bet and rigged a German Cup game between regional league side Paderborn and Bundesliga club Hamburger SV on Aug. 21, 2004.

With Paderborn losing 2-0, Hoyzer expelled HSV striker Emile Mpenza in the first half, and later awarded Paderborn two questionable penalties. Paderborn went on to win 4-2.

When the accusations began to fly around Hoyzer, the German Football Association (DFB) announced that it was investigating whether he fixed other matches. The German prosecutor's office launched a separate investigation.

Hoyzer initially denied the allegations, but eventually confessed before it was revealed that he had ties to a Croat organized crime syndicate that had bet large sums on the matches he officiated.

In the fallout, Hoyzer was temporarily suspended for "unsportsmanlike conduct" and he was arrested by police in February after new evidence emerged to suggest that he had fixed more matches than he had originally admitted.

Hoyzer was slapped with a lifetime ban by the DFB in April.

With his career as a referee over, Hoyzer began to work with state prosecutors as they built their criminal case against the three Croatian brothers, claiming he witnessed other referees accepting bribes and had heard that some players took money.

In total, Berlin prosecutors investigated 25 people, including 14 players and four referees, on suspicion of manipulating at least 10 games, mostly in Germany's lower divisions.

As Hoyzer's case played out in the media and eventually went to trial, the scandal has become even more of a black eye and a major source of embarrassment for a country preparing to host the 2006 World Cup.