FIFA has imposed global sanctions on four players and a coach from the Southern Stars Victorian Premier League side amid a criminal investigation into match-fixing.
The five individuals are barred from taking part in any football-related activity until further notice and the action follows an Australian ban handed down by the FFA last week.
Southern Stars players Reiss Noel, Joe Woolley, David Obaze and Nicholas McKoy, as well as coach Zia Younan, were arrested by Victorian police for alleged match-fixing on five Southern Stars matches and were granted bail last month.
The individuals are alleged to have participated in a match-fixing syndicate that generated more than $2 million in winnings. Malaysian Segaran ‘Gerry’ Gsubramaniam is alleged to have been responsible for bringing the Southern Stars representatives into the international syndicate. He was refused bail last month.
All six men are due to appear in court in December.
FIFA said the blanket international bans would only be lifted once the individuals had been convicted in court and the FFA adapted its own sanctions as a result, or if they were acquitted or had their charges dropped.
“FIFA continues to work closely with its member associations and the confederations to tackle match manipulation,” the governing body said in a statement.
The arrests followed a tip-off from the FFA, who said they had been alerted by international betting watchdog Sportradar, which had detected suspicious activity.
Match-fixing can attract a 10-year maximum jail sentence in Australia and lifetime football bans can be applied worldwide.
Source: AFP/ABC
