Ex Bundesliga player admits match fixing
Thomas Cichon has become the first former Bundesliga player to admit to match fixing.
The ex-Cologne player told a Bochum court on Wednesday in a statement read out by his lawyer that he received 20,000 euros ($A29,500) for his part in fixing a second division match in April 2009 while playing for Osnabrueck.
"I was to take part in the manipulation. I was ready to do that. We were to lose. Due to the circumstances I didn't want to and couldn't give it all I had," he said.
Cichon said he agreed to be part of the scheme in the match against Augsburg, which Osnabrueck lost 3-0, to pay off debts from excessive betting.
He said he never received the money because it went straight to the betting shop he owed money.
Cichon said he rejected a first attempt to fix games in 2008 but took part in the scheme a year later because he couldn't pay his debts and overcome his betting addiction.
Cichon, 37, who is banned until 2015 by the German football federation DFB over the fixing, faces a maximum sentence of 11 months, to be suspended.
The Bochum court is dealing with corruption in football in connection with an extensive probe led by local prosecutors into fixing games in several European countries.
