This week, however, the taint of scandal inched closer to the top tier when the German magazine Stern reported that a former striker at FC St. Pauli of Hamburg, René Schnitzler, had received more than €100,000 from gamblers. The alleged payments occurred when St. Pauli played in the second division of German soccer, but the club has since been promoted to the Bundesliga.
St. Pauli said in a statement that it was aware that Schnitzler, during his time with the club, had suffered from “private, particularly financial, problems.” Schnitzler, in an interview with Stern, had described himself as a betting addict. The club said it had not come across any signs of match-fixing, but said it was cooperating with the investigators.
read on with Eric Pfanner @
NYT