Football Australia Bans Four Players for Yellow Card Spot-Fixing

Football Australia has imposed lengthy bans on four soccer players involved in spot-fixing schemes that centered on deliberately receiving yellow cards to influence betting outcomes in A-League matches. The sanctions, announced Friday, target former Macarthur FC players Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus, ex-Western United midfielder Riku Danzaki, and amateur player Yuta Hirayama, all of whom have accepted the penalties without appeal.

Lewis, a 28-year-old New Zealand international with 27 caps, and Baccus, a 34-year-old South African-born player who represented Australia at youth levels, each received five-year suspensions from all football-related activities. The bans are backdated to May 17, 2023, when both players were placed on no-fault interim suspensions. They can reduce their bans by one year to four years by completing 200 hours of unpaid community service in support of Football Australia's integrity and education programs. If they opt for this, the suspensions would end in May 2028.

The offenses stemmed from a December 2023 Macarthur FC match, where Lewis and Baccus admitted to being paid 10,000 Australian dollars each by former club captain Ulises Davila to intentionally...