New | Hong Kong football club backers face tough financial screening in wake of match-fixing probe

The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) plans to introduce tougher measures to screen the financial background of individual club backers when they establish a new Premier League in September.

The development comes after several soccer players from First Division Happy Valley were understood to have been arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for alleged match-fixing.

A source familiar with the ICAC's investigation said several other Happy Valley players who were taken to the agency's headquarters on Sunday night were still being investigated. The ICAC has refused to comment.

Dozens of ICAC investigators picked up about 10 players at the Tsing Yi Sports Ground on Sunday night after the end of the match between Happy Valley and Sunray Cave Sun Hei. Happy Valley, six-time Hong Kong champions, lost 5-0.

The HKFA will also decide if they will follow up on a match involving another First Division side, Tuen Mun, after their defender Li Ming headed an own goal to lose the match 2-1 to Yokohama last month.

Tuen Mun and Happy Valley are backed by mainland sponsors, although Tuen Mun decided last week to take back management of the team from their sponsor. Both clubs have applied to postpone their games scheduled for the weekend.

The chairman of Happy Valley Athletic Association, Pui Kwan-kay, said on an RTHK programme yesterday that sponsors sometimes influenced the operations of soccer teams.