By Andrew Warshaw
January 10 – The scourge of global match-fixing has once again come under the spotlight with FIFA extending worldwide the life bans of 41 South Korean players.
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee announced their decision Wednesday, extending the bans previously agreed by Korea’s K-League and the Korea Football Association.
A further 21 players who admitted their part in the scandal will be allowed to return to the sport after a probation period of between two and five years. But to do so, they must perform 200 to 500 hours of football-related community service.
The details of the 2011 South Korean scandal make for anxious reading. Some 50 players and coaches from six K-League sides, along with 11 criminal gang members, were charged with rigging 15 games the previous year. Tragically two players and a former coach took their own lives when their involvement became public.
In April of last year, former Suwon Samsung Bluewings midfielder Lee Kyung-Hwan, 24, killed himself while in May, Jeong Jong-Kwan, a 29-year-old midfielder also committed suicide as did Lee Soo-Cheol, a former coach of the military football club.
Match fixing has emerged as one of the most immoral and illegal trends in world football. The Italian and Turkish leagues, as well as the national teams of Guatemala, Nicaragua and South Africa, have all been embroiled in recent scandals. Normally these are organised by illegal gambling rings, primarily in south-east Asia, who stand to win money by betting on the results of matches they are manipulating, with the help of players and referees.
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