Choi latest to come clean over match-fixing
Reuters - Wednesday 29 June 2011, 06:00
SEOUL - Korean international Choi
Sung-kuk has become the latest player to confess to involvement
in the country's growing match-fixing scandal, local media
reported on Wednesday.
The Suwon Samsung Bluewings player admitted his association
with the worst scandal to hit the country's professional league
since it was established in 1983 and Korean prosecutors were now
looking into the case, the Yonhap news agency reported.
An unidentified former national team goalkeeper had
confessed to his involvement in fixing last season's K-League
matches at the weekend.
The report quoted a K-League official as saying that Choi,
part of Korea's 2004 Olympic and 2007 AFC Asian Cup teams, was
lured into attempts to throw matches by another player, who is
among the 11 already indicted in the scandal.
Incidentally, Choi denied any wrongdoing in a press
conference last month.
"If I had done anything wrong, I would've been summoned to
the prosecution, and not here talking with you," he said.
League authorities have slapped life bans on 10 players -
eight from the Daejeon Citizen team alone.
A player was found dead in a hotel room last month and media
reports claimed a suicide note was found with reference to a
match-fixing ring.
Three members of the top-flight military side Sangmu Phoenix
have been questioned on suspicion of match-fixing, providing
further evidence of how deep-rooted the problem was.
Players have until the end of this month to confess to their
role and expect a lenient punishment.
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.