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Football Australia has imposed significant sanctions on four players after investigating spot-fixing and betting offenses in the A-League, including a seven-year suspension for Riku Denzaki.
Japani footballer Dezaki, formerly of Western United, was handed a seven-year ban along with amateur player Yuta Hirayama, which was imposed on 1 June. The pair were convicted and fined in August for a yellow card betting scheme, where Hirayama deliberately bet on Denzaki while receiving warnings.
Meanwhile, former MacArthur FC players Clayton Lewis and Karin Backus have been banned for at least four years. His suspension stemmed from his admission of accepting a $10,000 payment from former club captain Ulises Davila.
The payment was made for deliberate yellow cards during a December 2023 match.
Lewis and Backus both pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct that taints the betting outcome of an event, receiving two-year conditional release orders and avoiding conviction. He was also ordered to repay his illegal earnings.
Ulises Davila, who facilitated these payments, pleaded guilty to similar charges in October and is currently awaiting sentencing.
Football Australia confirmed on Friday that all four players had accepted their respective penalties and would not appeal the decision.
Australia is not the only country currently battling a football betting scandal.
There is also an ongoing investigation into alleged betting in Turkish football. The investigation initially found in October that 371 out of 571 active referees in Türkiye’s professional leagues were betting accounts,
The following month, 17 referees were arrested More than 1,000 players were suspended by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), featuring Galatasaray duo Eren Elmali and Metehan Baltası.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that top-level players were kept in jail A lawsuit is pending as part of the bookmaking investigation.
State-run Anadolu news agency reported that those formally arrested included Baltası, Fenerbahce player Mert Hakan Yandas and former Adana Demirspor president Murat Sancak.