SYDNEY (AP) — A former club captain who was named the A-League Player of the Year pleaded guilty in an Australian court Thursday, admitting his role in a lucrative match-fixing scheme.
Ulises Davila, 34, is accused of being the mastermind behind a gambling scheme in which he and two MacArthur Bulls teammates deliberately earned yellow cards to guarantee the outcome of their bets.
The charges related to six matches in Australia’s premier football competition over the 2023-2024 season.
The former Macarthur FC captain has pleaded guilty to facilitating an event and engaging in conduct that undermined the outcome of betting.
Eight charges against him, including directing and participating in a criminal group, were dropped by prosecutors in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court.
Davila is scheduled to be sentenced on December 19th.
inside Match on December 9, 2023 In the game against Sydney FC, Davila and teammates Clayton Lewis and Keelin Backus were given yellow cards.
Davila was booked for kicking the ball away and delaying play, Luiz was given a card and for pushing an opponent in the chest, and Backus was penalized for a poor tackle.
According to facts agreed by Davila’s teammates, bets were placed on the Makatul team to receive at least four cards during the match.
Winnings from bets placed through gambling sites totaled more than 200,000 Australian dollars (approximately $132,000). Teammates said Davila paid Ruiz and Backus 10,000 Australian dollars (about 660,000 yen) each for their roles in the gambling scam.
Lewis and Bacchus handed over a good behavior bond They escaped conviction in September, when magistrates found the pair were “at the bottom of the conspiracy”.
Ruiz and Bacchus emphasized that they would be involved at Davila’s request, insisting that Davila was “not only the captain of the team, but also the captain of the plan”.
All three players were suspended and later lost their contracts with Macarthur FC.
The club previously issued a statement saying “serious deficiencies” in the integrity process in Australian football needed to be addressed.
Dávila was an elite youth player who represented Mexico at the Youth World Cup and signed for Premier League club Chelsea at the age of 20.
He did not make it to Chelsea’s first team and played in a number of leagues, including India, before joining the A-League with New Zealand-based Wellington Phoenix in 2019. He won the Johnny Warren Medal as the league’s best player in the 2020-21 season, after which he moved to MacArthur.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
