DFB defines negotiation
Game manipulation? Ex-entrepreneur threatens to trouble
08.08.2025 – 3:17 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Allegations against Marco Antwerp: The former coach of Eintracht Braunschweig has to answer to the sports court. The DFB sets an appointment.
Marco Antwerp apparently threatens to trouble. The DFB sports court started an oral hearing for the 53-year-old and his former assistant at VfL Osnabrück, Frank Döpper, at the request of the control committee.
This is planned for August 28th. “The two coaches are accused of having behaved in the run-up to the NFV Cup between VfL Osnabrück and TuS Blau-Weiß on May 24, 2025 within the meaning of § 33 DFB training regulations IVM §§ 6a, 1 No. 4 of the legal and procedural regulations,” says the communication of the DFB.
But what exactly is it about? While paragraph 33 regulates unsportsmanlike behavior, paragraph 6a deals with the topic of game manipulation. Literally, for example: “Anyone who, in particular as a player, referee, trainer or official, is doing it on the course and/or the result of a football game and/or sporting competition through knowingly incorrect decisions or other unauthorized influence with the intention of giving yourself or another, the game manipulation is guilty.”
If corresponding allegations are confirmed, this could lead to fines, blocks or even withdrawal of the coaching license. The DFB left open whether and to what extent Antwerp and Döpper could actually have tried to influence the result before the final in the Lower Saxony State Cup.
Osnabrück lost the game against Lohne 2: 4. At the game, Bernd Rießelmann was a loan player of the Osnabrücker in the opponent’s squad. It was already certain that the then Lohner Theo Janotta would join VfL for the new season. Both players scored one goal in the final.
Antwerp and Döpper were released a week after the game, even though they had led VfL to relegation in the third division thanks to a strong second half of the season – the club did not give specific reasons for the separation at the time. The two coaches then submitted an action for protection against dismissal, but according to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, an arbitration date at the DFB sports court did not agree.
Before his engagement in Osnabrück, Antwerp was under contract with the Würzburger Kickers, the 1st FC Kaiserslautern and Waldhof Mannheim. From November 2019 to July 2020, he also trained Eintracht Braunschweig and led the BTSV to promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. Afterwards, despite the sporting success, he had to clear his post.