サッカー選手１１人が八百長の疑いで逮捕、香港

【香港ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港の同一サッカークラブに所属する選手１１人が、リーグ戦で八百長をはたらいた疑いで逮捕されたと、汚職捜査当局が１６日に発表した。（写真は資料写真）
　香港の汚職捜査機関である廉政公署（ＩＣＡＣ）は、１年に及ぶ捜査の末、コーチ１人を含む２３人を１５日に拘束した。ＩＣＡＣの捜査主任の発表によれば、容疑には香港サッカーの２部にあたる甲級リーグで、賄賂を受け取って試合結果を操作したことや、違法賭博への関与が含まれる。
　選手には八百長グループから、影響度に応じて１試合につき最大で約１万香港ドル（約１７万４０００円）が支払われたという。捜査主任は「どれだけいいプレーをしたかではなく、どれだけうまく（プレーを）偽装し、結果の操作を助けたかということだ」と話した。
　逮捕された選手たちは、チームが格下に負けるように消極的なプレーをしたり、あまり人気がないため高いオッズが付く特定のスコアに持ち込むことを狙っていたりしたという。八百長グループと一部の選手はそうした結果に賭けをし、違法かつ組織的に利益を得ようとしていた。
　ＩＣＡＣは、逮捕された選手とコーチのクラブ名は明かさなかったが、地元メディアが関係者の言葉として伝えたところでは、香港サッカーでもとりわけ歴史ある愉園体育会だという。当局は捜査がまだ継続中で、総額でどれほどの金銭が動いていたのかはまだ分かっていないと話している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/17-17:21）

Hong Kong authorities have arrested 11 footballers from the same team over allegations of match-fixing in a domestic league, the city's anti-graft body said Tuesday.
After a yearlong investigation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Monday detained 23 people in total, including a coach, over the alleged fixing of results in the First Division, Hong Kong football's second tier.
The alleged offences include bribery manipulating match results and illegal gambling, ICAC principal investigator Kate Cheuk said at a press conference on Tuesday.
This operation is the largest in recent years carried out by the ICAC against match-fixing, she added.
ICAC said the match-fixing group was suspected of paying each player up to about HK$10,000 ($1,200) for each game, depending on their impact.
It's not about how well they played but how well they faked (their performance) or how much they could help manipulate the results, ICAC's Cheuk said.
The suspected footballers would either play passively so their team would lose to a weaker rival, or they sought to achieve a certain score that was unpopular and at high odds, she added.
The group and some of the players then bet on these results in an illegally organised scheme for profits.
The arrested players and the coach belonged to the same club, which ICAC did not name.
Local media, however, cited sources as saying they were from Happy Valley, one of Hong Kong's oldest football clubs.
The anti-graft body said they belong to a First Division team that had played 26 matches and won eight in the 2022-23 season.
There are currently three First Division teams with eight wins -- Happy Valley is one of them.
ICAC said it has yet to come up with the total amount of money involved as the probe is still ongoing.