FIFA bans 41 South Koreans for match-fixing

Posted at 01/09/2013 11:25 PM | Updated as of 01/09/2013 11:25 PM

PARIS - World governing body FIFA on Wednesday announced extended sanctions for 41 South Korean players following a 2011 match-fixing scandal in the domestic league.

Korea's K-League and the Korea Football Association's disciplinary committees agreed the sanctions and now FIFA's Disciplinary Committee has extended them worldwide.

Another 21 players who admitted their part in the match-fixing affair and also recanted will be allowed to return to the game after after a probation period of between two and five years.

But they will have to do football-related community service first, including coaching youngsters and disabled players.

The match-fixing scandal erupted in 2011 when some 50 players and coaches from six K-League sides were charged along with 11 criminal gang members and bookmakers with taking money to rig 15 games during 2010.

The scandal has led to two players and a former coach taking their own lives

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 with a third-division outfit, also committed suiceide as did Lee Soo-Cheol, a former coach of the military football club, found dead last October.