Two German football referees went on trial today on match-fixing charges in a scandal which has overshadowed their country’s preparations to host next year’s World Cup.

Robert Hoyzer and Dominik Marks face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of involvement in organised gang fraud.

Prosecutors say that 23 games, mostly in lower divisions but also involving two first division games and matches in Turkey and Italy, are believed to have been fixed from April to December of 2004.

The timing of the trial could hardly be worse for Germany as it will almost certainly still be going on when football's most powerful figures gather in Leipzig before the draw for the World Cup tournament on December 9.

Franz Beckenbauer, head of the World Cup organising committee, has said that he is shocked by the scandal and concerned about the potential damage to the reputation of the country.

The matter is also embarrassing for a country with a reputation for producing excellent referees, including the respected Markus Merk. Volker Roth, the head of the DFB's refereeing committee, performs a similar function for UEFA, European football's governing body.

In a bid to restrict the damage, the German Football Federation (DFB) has set up a special commission to look into the case and has banned all players, coaches, referees and officials from betting on football matches.

The referees are charged along with Steffen Karl, a former player, and three Croatian brothers who ran a Berlin cafe, which is alleged to have been the centre of an illegal sports betting ring.

Prosecutors say that the syndicate run by the Croats - Ante, Milan and Filip Sapina - won around €2 milllion (£1.4 million). The investigators seized assets and froze bank accounts belonging to the brothers in raids in February.

Ante Sapina, 29, the alleged ringleader, is the only defendant still in custody. His brothers, Filip and Milan, aged 37 and 40, have been released.

Flanked by two lawyers, Herr Hoyzer wore a dark three-piece suit as he walked into the Berlin state court building this morning through a blaze of camera lights.

He is a chief witness for the prosecution, which has based the charges on his statements to investigators. After first denying match-fixing allegations, he changed his story and admitted the charges in January, also implicating the other defendants.

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