Famous names found guilty of match-fixing

Many international and domestic players as well as prominent teams have been found guilty of match-fixing in the past. Some of the most famous of these are:

Italian football scandal: In 2006 Italian Serie A league champions Juventus were found guilty of rigging football matches by influencing officials to choose favourable referees. Other teams, such as ACMilan and Lazio, were also involved in the scandal. However, it was Juventus who were relegated to Serie B and stripped of their 2005 and 2006 league titles.

Hong Kong World Cup match: In 1998, four Hong Kong players were charged with corruption and match-rigging in a World Cup soccer qualifier. Hong Kong international Chan Tsz-Kong admitted to fixing a qualifier against Thailand and was handed a year-long prison sentence. His teammates Lok Kar-Win, Chan Chi-Keung and Wai Kwan-Lung were also convicted, receiving jail sentences and lifetime bans.

Brazilian betting: In 2005, two Brazilian referees were found guilty of accepting bribes to fix results of matches to suit two gambling websites: Aebet and Futbet. The results of 11 Brazilian National Championship matches were annulled by the Supreme Court of Sporting Justice which forced the teams to replay those games. Both referees were banned for life from football.

Goalkeeper in the news: In 1994, The Sun accused Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar of match-fixing. A video of Grobbelaar accepting GBP2,000 (HK$25,400) to throw a match against Southampton was used as evidence, but the courts ultimately cleared his name as the jury failed to reach a consensus. Grobbelaar sued the British newspaper for libel, and was awarded GBP85,000. However, the tabloid appealed to the House of Lords, which found evidence of dishonesty in the goalkeeper's conduct. It reduced Grobbelaar's award to GBP1, and ordered him to pay The Sun's legal costs, estimated at GBP500,000.