HONG KONG - A Hong Kong football player, charged by the ICAC, was sentenced to a detention centre for offering bribes to his teammates for assistance in fixing a match against Russia's national youth team.

Iu Wai, 20, was a player of Hong Kong Sapling Football Club. He earlier pleaded guilty at Kowloon City Magistracy to two counts of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government hosted a friendly match between Hong Kong Youth Representative Team (KHYRT) and Russian National Youth Team on November 15, 2011.

The Hong Kong Football Association selected 20 players under 21 years old from 10 football teams, including the Sapling club to form the HKYRT. Amongst the 20 selected football players, eight of them, including Iu Wai, Chan Cham-hei and Chiu Yu-ming, came from the Sapling Club.

Between November 11 and 14, all the 20 football players of HKYRT attended a residential training camp at a hotel in Kwun Tong.

The court heard that on November 12, Iu asked Chan if he was willing to deliberately lose a few more goals in the match. In return, several tens of thousands of dollars would be offered to Chan.

Knowing that he was asked to fix the match, Chan declined his request.

Two days later, Iu approached Chiu, goalkeeper of HKYRT, asking if he was willing to lose three goals in the first half of the match for a reward of 40,000 HK dollars. Chiu declined the offer.

Iu was arrested on November 15. When interviewed under caution by ICAC officers, the defendant admitted that he had offered advantages to Chan and Chiu on the two said occasions, the court was told.