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Switzerland has never come as close to winning the Champions League in handball as they did 25 years ago: in previous years, the series champion, Pfadi Winterthur, had already announced his ambitions with home wins against THW Kiel and the then superior team of FC Barcelona. Now at least the first step to the semi-finals must succeed.
The first leg of the quarter-finals at last year’s finalists Badel Zagreb led to a 3-goal loss, which, given the Croatian strength at home with 12,000 passionate fans behind them, looks like a victory for the Swiss. “We were better and probably should have won the first leg,” recalled current national coach Michael Suter, who played on Scout’s right wing at the time.
While Winterthur waits for the second leg, Pfadi receives two disturbing phone calls: representatives of top Slovenian club Celje and a German referee warn that the referees scheduled for the second leg, David Danelia and Mikhail Kiselew from Russia, are for sale. “We players have not heard anything about these calls,” says Stefan Schärer, who was a scout wing at the time.
The scandal in the second leg
The second leg on February 28, 1998 in the Eulachhalle in Winterthur then became the biggest scandal in Swiss handball history. From the beginning, Zagreb relies on toughness. In the first attack, scout captain Roman Brunner is hit in the face by a hand. “Nowadays something like that would immediately turn red. In those days it was still customary to test a protagonist,” says Suter.
The Russian referees let the Croats do it. Even attacks to the neck of scout superstar Jae-won Kang only get a free throw instead of a time penalty. “I can still remember how I throw myself on the ball after a rebound and the referee whistles back. This rule was abolished years ago,” says Suter. But not only the clear decisions, but also the 50:50 whistles are usually against the scouts.
Eight minutes before the end, Scout leads with 21:20. But then the Winterthurers lose the game and their nerve. First Schärer sees the red card because of complaints. Scout Chi-hyo Cho then fires the ball over crouching teammate Kang at the referee. He also sees red. “The two agreed on that. I have never seen our two Koreans so angry as in that match,” says Schärer.
Patron beckons with a 100 note
The room has long since reached boiling point. Angry spectators storm the field after the 21:24 defeat, the referees must be protected by security forces when leaving the venue. In Winterthur, a scene in which scout patron Peter Spälti waves a 100 note in the direction of the two Russians as a sign of a bribe is still legendary. “As soon as he entered the room, the insurance boss Spälti became the handball fan Peter – with all his emotions,” says Schärer about Spälti, who died in 2010.
Scout trainer Morten Schönfeldt finds clear words in the TV interview after the game: “With referees like that, it’s no longer about handball. It’s about how much you pay. We don’t do that in Winterthur.” The suspicion of fraud was founded a day later: a player’s agent from Germany contacted the scout manager Ernst Liniger. One of his clients and players from Badel Zagreb is said to have confirmed the referee’s bribe.
Scout’s protest is rejected by the European Handball Federation EHF for lack of evidence. Player’s agent and Celje’s representatives do not want to testify as witnesses. “With the protest we wanted to set an example and we succeeded. In any case, I can’t remember a similar case since then » says ex-manager Liniger today.
Zagreb later advanced to the Champions League final, but again lost to Barcelona. In any case, from a moral point of view, Scout is still right: the two Russian referees are withdrawn from an already scheduled European Championship qualifier and will retire earlier than planned.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
