Match fixing?
DFB court reduces ban on ex-Eintracht coach
11/27/2025 – 7:42 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Was it a “classic misunderstanding”? Former Eintracht coach Marco Antwerp had to answer in court for allegedly attempting to fix the game. The verdict was adjusted.
Turnaround for ex-Eintracht coach Marco Antwerp: The former Braunschweig player had to answer for allegations of attempted manipulation. This suspicion was not confirmed. The DFB Federal Court reduced the football coach’s ban for unsportsmanlike behavior from twelve to three months, according to a statement from the German Football Association (DFB).
The 54-year-old from Antwerp was initially banned for twelve months by the sports court on August 28th. He appealed against this. The verdict against Antwerp’s former assistant Frank Döpper, who was banned for three months, was even completely overturned. Both judgments are legally binding.
The accusation against Antwerp: As coach of the VfL Osnabruck He is said to have asked athletic trainer Tim Schütte twice before the Lower Saxony state cup final on May 24th against regional league team Blau-Weiß Lohne to suggest that Lohne player Bernd Riesselmann not play. Riesselmann was at the time on loan from VfL to the final opponent and has been playing again since this summer Osnabruck.
“I am innocent. I have had difficult months, as you can imagine,” Antwerp told Bild before the appeal hearing. According to statements from several witnesses, the Federal Court no longer considered it to be proven that Antwerp and Döpper specifically tried to influence the opponent’s line-up and thus the course of the game.
Döpper had no significant influence on the behavior of others. The court found that Antwerp was a “classic misunderstanding”. “But he must be blamed for not having observed sufficiently, for his statements to be misunderstood and taken seriously, and for negligently risking interference in competition,” explained Oskar Riedmeyer, chairman of the DFB Federal Court.
Riesselmann had categorically refused to refrain from deployment and informed his advisor about the incident. The 21-year-old was also used in the state cup final and scored a goal in the 4-2 win for the underdogs.
After the events became known internally, VfL Osnabrück terminated the contracts with Antwerp and Döpper, which were valid until 2027, without notice on May 27th. The two 53-year-old soccer teachers are suing the labor court in Osnabrück, which will hear the case in December.