El Salvador Bans 14 Match-Fixing Footballers

{{El Salvador has banned 14 international footballers for life over match-fixing in the third such scandal to hit the sport this week.}}

One other player was given an 18-month ban, two were suspended for six months, one was acquitted while four more face further investigation, Carlos Mendez, the country’s football federation (FESFUT) president, told a news conference on Friday.

“The work of the disciplinary commission has been exhaustive,” Mendez said.

“We have used valuable information which has come from interviews, video accounts from people who have had the strength to declare and help us find those responsible.”

The bans come one day after a group of mostly British footballers appeared in a Melbourne court after Australian police arrested them in an operation to smash a multi-million-dollar match-fixing ring.

Police in Singapore said on Wednesday that they had arrested 14 people suspected of being members of an organised crime ring in a match-fixing bust there.

The 14 El Salvador players given life bans were goalkeepers Dagoberto Portillo and Miguel Montes, defenders Ramon Flores, Miguel Granadino, Luis Anaya, Mardoqueo Henriquez, Alfredo Pacheco, Marvin Gonzalez and Reynaldo Hernandez and midfielders Osael Romero, Darwin Bonilla, Dennis Alas, Ramon Sanchez and Christian Castillo.

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