Five former Hong Kong footballers charged with match-fixing as city graft-buster probes irregularities in local league reserve matches

Five former players of a Hong Kong soccer club were charged by the ICAC on Wednesday with offering and accepting bribes totalling HK$60,000 while trying to fix three reserve league matches.

They included Lee Wai-lim, 36, winner of the Footballer of the Year award in 2009 when he played for Tai Po.

The others were Kwok Kin-pong, 30, Michael Cheng Lai-hin, 31, Chan Pak-hang, 24, and Lee Ka-ho, 24, who all played for ­Premier League side Pegasus. They face a total of seven charges.

The men were arrested by the Independent Commission Against Corruption last October in an operation codenamed “Flower Field” and were suspended by the club shortly afterwards.

Kwok and Cheng face a joint charge of conspiracy to defraud, while the others face similar charges.

Cheng and Chan also each face one charge of offering an ­advantage to an agent, while Lee Wai-lim and Lee Ka-ho each face one charge of accepting an advantage.

The defendants will appear in West Kowloon Court on Friday for transfer of the case to the ­District Court for plea.