BERLIN - The Berlin State Court have postponed their decision over the German Football Association's (DFB) claim for damages against former referee Robert Hoyzer.
The DFB are suing the 28-year-old for 1.8 million euros after he fixed matches he was refereeing between 2004 and 2005 for a betting syndicate based in Croatia.
Hoyzer pleaded guilty to charges of fraud in April last year and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
However, the DFB claim they have incurred losses amounting to 1.8 million euros with the lion's share of that figure - 1.5 million - paid to Hamburg as compensation.
Their German Cup first-round defeat to SC Paderborn was just one of the games Hoyzer manipulated in Germany's biggest ever case of match-fixing.
Hamburg lost the game 4-2, but claimed damages as soon as it emerged they had been the victims of Hoyzer's illicit behaviour.
The DFB reached an out-of-court settlement with HSV rather than interfere with the continuation of the competition, which was ultimately won by Bayern Munich.
The body then launched a civil claim to recoup that compensation from Hoyzer, as well as wages paid to him and the costs of staging an emergency general meeting to discuss the affair in April 2005.
However, the Second Chamber of the Berlin State Court, presided by judge Michael Hirschfeld, was unable to reach a majority decision on Wednesday and a second hearing will be scheduled for mid-March.
In the meantime, both parties are expected to seek an out-of-court settlement with DFB president Dr Theo Zwanziger showing his willingness to deal with the issue immediately to allow Hoyzer to get on with his life.
"He is a young man who has been led astray, and allowed himself to be led astray, but he still deserves a chance to find his feet again in our society," Zwanziger, who was not present at the hearing on Wednesday, told Die Welt newspaper.
"I hope he has understood what went wrong and learns from it."
Zwanziger admitted he was unsure of pursuing the claim, but had a "responsibility" to continue with the case as the president of a public association.
"I am the one responsible for our duties, which includes earning the income which is there to be earned," he added.
"We have decided to make a claim because we could not rule out Mr Hoyzer making money from the whole story when he is released."
Hoyzer remains in a Berlin jail and was excused from Wednesday's hearing with his solicitor Thomas Hermes defending him.
