Ex-Korea keeper confesses to match-fixing
Reuters - Monday 27 June 2011, 04:58
SEOUL - A former South Korean national
team goalkeeper has confessed to his involvement in fixing football matches in the growing K-League corruption scandal,
according to local media.
A senior K-League official said that the Jeonbuk Motors
keeper has admitted to fixing games last season when playing for
rival team Chunnam Dragons.
"The goalkeeper first informed his Jeonbuk head coach Choi
Kang-hee last Friday night," K-League secretary Ahn Gi-heon told
Yonhap news agency.
"After speaking with Lee Chul-geun, general manager of
Jeonbuk, we decided to hand the case over to prosecutors."
The goalkeeper, whose name was withheld, was briefly a
member of the South Korea squad in 2008.
He is the first known player to turn himself in for ties to
match-fixing since the K-League launched a wide-reaching probe
into the problem.
Players have until the end of this month to come forward in
return for reduced penalties from the league as part of a league
amnesty.
The K-League's sting has already led to life bans for 10
players - eight from the Daejeon Citizen team alone - in the
most embarrassing scandal since the country's professional
league was established in 1983.
Last month a player was found dead in a hotel room and media
reports claimed a suicide note was found with reference to a
match-fixing ring.
Even the top-flight military side Sangmu Phoenix was not
immune to corruption, three of its players being hauled in last
week for questioning on suspicion of match-fixing.
The state-run sports bookmaker has stopped taking bets on
games, while the government has threatened to stop funding any
sports leagues found to be corrupt in any way.