10th January, 2013
Forty-one South Korean players have been handed worldwide lifetime bans following a match-fixing scandal in the country’s K-League, world governing body FIFA said yesterday.
The 41, charged after a domestic match-fixing investigation dating back to 2011, received lifetime bans from all football activity by the K-League and the Korea Football Association’s disciplinary committee with FIFA’s disciplinary committee extended the sanctions to have worldwide effect.
South Korean sport has been marred by match-fixing allegations in professional soccer, volleyball and baseball, forcing the government to declare war on the issue.
In February last year, soccer officials scrapped the K-League Cup competition as part of sweeping changes brought in to avoid a repeat of last year’s match-fixing scandal.
Ten other players involved in match-fixing were given worldwide bans by FIFA in June, while in March, South Korea’s volleyball association banned 11 players for life in a bid to curb corruption in the domestic sport.