Germany's match-fixing referee arrested

Robert Hoyzer, the referee at the centre of Germany's soccer match-fixing scandal, was arrested on Saturday, Berlin prosecutors said.

"Police executed the warrant today and arrested Robert Hoyzer in Berlin," the prosecutors' office said in a statement.

"The background for the arrest is a changed assessment of the risk of flight."

Hoyzer is one of 25 people under investigation by Berlin prosecutors after admitting that he fixed games for money as part of a betting scam.

Three other men are in custody on suspicion of committing fraud as part of an organised gang suspected of having fixed the results of at least 10 matches.

The match-fixing scandal, Germany's biggest in over 30 years, has tarnished the country's image in the year before it hosts the World Cup.