International striker Choi Sung-kuk’s admission that he was offered money to fix matches prompted another wave of headlines and controversy yesterday that has South Korean soccer authorities deeply concerned about the extent of corruption in Asia’s oldest professional soccer league.
Already 10 K-League players have been indicted in a match-fixing scandal that is getting deeper by the day. Choi, who has made 26 international appearances for South Korea, is easily the highest-profile player to be linked to the problem.
“We don’t know how serious it is,” said Lee Kap-jin, a former Korea Football Association (KFA) vice president and head of the KFA’s newly formed misconduct committee, in a telephone interview yesterday. “We don’t know how deep and wide it goes, but I think it will take a long time to sort out.”
“We only know what the prosecutors have found and the players who have come forward voluntarily to confess,” Lee said.
South Korean prosecutors indicted 14 people earlier this month, including 10 K-League players. Eight of the players were contracted to Daejeon Citizen and allegedly took kickbacks from illegal gambling brokers to fix the outcome of games.
An 11th allegedly bet on one of his own team’s games after learning the outcome would be rigged.
A former K-League player, who allegedly worked as a broker, was found dead in an apparent suicide late last month.
Choi, nicknamed “Little Maradona,” was questioned this week. He told prosecutors that in June last year, he attended a meeting between players and gambling brokers while he was playing for military club Gwangju Sangmu, a team that has since relocated to Sangju. He has since moved to the Suwon Bluewings.
According to Choi, he rejected an offer of money from then teammate Kim Dong-hyun — who was also at the meeting and has already been arrested by military prosecutors over the scandal.
Choi reportedly claimed that he told the club’s coaching staff of the incident. The admissions come a month after Choi denied all claims that he was involved in match-fixing at an emergency workshop called by the K-League.
The KFA said it was unable to comment on a specific case under investigation by prosecutors, but Lee said that the national league was determined to stamp out corruption.
“All of a sudden when supporters know about this, that even high-ranking players are involved, then you can’t get the support of the fans,” Lee said.
Lee said the league had to investigate thoroughly, then devise ways to combat against future corruption. The overhaul could start as early as next week.
“And then our main job is how to make a systematic way to protect our players and take precautions and have a warning system,” he said. “We have to focus on protection from outside threats and temptations.”
“We need to continually train and educate our people — from the youngsters up to the professionals. It is a big job for the KFA. The committee will forward proposals to the KFA to deal with the situation next week,” Lee said.
Choi’s admission came days after a goalkeeper with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors acknowledged his involvement in the scandal, but had his name withheld by investigators. South Korean media identified the player as Yeom Dong-gyun, who had played for South Korea’s under-23 team and had been a backup for the full national side.
Investigations have been focusing on League Cup games this year, but Choi’s allegations that match-fixing was taking place in the same competition a year earlier is a further blow to the K-League’s reputation.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but