Three admit guilty in Australia's biggest match-fixing scandal

A Malaysian man and two English football players have admitted taking part in an international match-fixing syndicate.

Segaran Gsubramaniam, 45, Friday pleaded guilty to a single charge of engaging in conduct that corrupts the outcome of a betting event, Xinhua quoted the Australian Associated Press as saying.

The Malaysian man was accused of leading an operation to fix five games involving the Southern Stars club in the semi- professional Victorian Premier League between July and September this year.

Defender Reiss Noel and goalkeeper Joe Woolley, both 24, have admitted helping fix games while playing for the Southern Stars.

It is believed that this was the biggest case of alleged match fixing in Australian sports history. There were estimated betting winnings in Australia and overseas of more than 2 million AU dollars ($1.8 million) identified in connection with the alleged match-fixing ring, police said.

Ten people have been arrested in relation to the scandal. Police said many of the players arrested were from Britain and playing in Australia in their off-season.

The police operation began in August following information received from the Football Federation Australia about irregular betting patterns and unusual results.