Just eight months before Germany stages the football World Cup in 2006, 26-year-old soccer referee Robert Hoyzer has been sentenced to two years and five months in prison for involvement in the country's headline-grabbing match-fixing scandal. He admitted taking part in fixing nine matches: For one game, in which he handed out two questionable penalties and a dubious red-card, he received over €67,000 and a flat-screen television. Hoyzer left the court in Berlin looked dazed and shocked, evidently expecting to be let off more lightly given the prosecution's recommendation that he be sentenced to two years probation.

In preparation for next year's soccer championship, Germany's football establishment has made sure the trial has gone through at lightning speed to avoid embarrassment during the games themselves. Whether the verdict was too severe or too lax preoccupies today's papers in Germany.

Under the title "the Football Republic of Germany," the Berlin daily Berliner Zeitung sees Hoyzer's verdict as a sign that "the country has had to learn something painful: that German football cheats." Although the paper sees the prison sentence as a tough verdict, it also believes that in anticipation of the World Cup in 2006 and all the expectations placed on the sport, the decision is a fair one. Next year German football will have to achieve a lot, the commentator writes. "It will hold the World Cup and if possible also win the title. It is supposed to stimulate the domestic economy and boost exports. It should act as a friendly host to the world and put across the message to the entire globe that the Football Republic of Germany is courageous and good." The paper goes on to say that it is strange that so much honesty is expected of German football. After all the sport is only following the standards of other sections of German society, where VW managers pay for prostitutes with company funds, or TV reporters get backhanders for sports' commentaries. And as for the football itself: "You don't need to go as far as the scenes of fights in Istanbul. A look at the incidents in Germany's own league table, where blows are exchanged on a weekly basis, will suffice… A friendly host to the world? Welcome to reality."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung on the other hand, which agrees that German football is riddled with problems, sees the sentence as a mild one. "The scandal, which got football Germany so worked up, has been reduced, thanks to the fast-track trials, to a level which both the German Football Federation and football fans themselves can live with. The football World Cup, which begins in eight months, will not have to carry the stigma of ongoing criminal proceedings." But, because of this haste, the paper believes that hundreds of witnesses were not questioned and queries over the workings of the Football Federation have not been cleared up. "The German Football Federation is now in the clear: the lads have made a few sketchy deals which they now have to make amends for. But it is quickly being forgotten that more than 40 people were involved in the affair, but who couldn't be questioned because of lack of evidence." The commentator concludes by saying that "although the affair began as a 'slap in the face for German football,' as one football manager put it, the sport walked out of the courtrooms with nothing more than red cheeks. As far as the German Football Federation is concerned, the World Cup can now begin."

For the center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung however Holzer's prison sentence of two years and five months seems particularly severe if you compare what is earned in most financial scandals. "Those who have made themselves a nice little business with dubious asset management deals, crooked contract awards and government subsidy fraud will just smile at Mr. Hoyzer's illegal winnings." The commentator gives two reasons for the shock and indignation which the case sparked off. "Firstly referees in this country, at least the German ones, have always had a reputation for merciless incorruptibility. Secondly it is generally known that there is hardly anything more important in life than football." But, the paper believes, for a court of law it doesn't matter who committed the crime: fraud is fraud.

There is also a second football story that German commentators are taking a closer look at on Friday. On Wednesday evening, after having been eliminated from the 2006 World Cup on aggragate despite having beaten the Swiss 4:2 in the game, the Turkish players decided to give the Swiss players themselves a beating as well. After the whistle was blown at the end of the match the Swiss players fled to the changing rooms as they were hit and kicked by their Turkish opponents. Despite protestations that the Swiss actually started the altercation, FIFA is considering banning Turkey from the 2010 World Cup.

Under the headline "Bad Losers," the right-leaning daily Die Welt, which generally never misses an opportunity to bash Turkey, writes "after the kicks and punches which the hosts gave the Swiss after the whistle was blown, missing out on the sporting highlight of 2006 is not punishment enough." And since FIFA president Joseph Blatter is considering whether to disqualify Turkey from 2010's World Cup as well, the commentator may get his wish. "The fact that Blatter is himself Swiss, doesn't make any difference," the paper maintains. "This is not the first time that foreign teams have felt themselves to be in danger in Istanbul. 'Are we at war?' asked the German Junior's trainer Uli Stielike two years ago, after his charges were actually attacked at a European World Cup qualifying game." The paper calls for FIFA to impose strong sanctions. "Being banned from two games, as was the case two years ago, or receiving notes of protest isn't enough."