Two players banned for life over fixed match

TALAS — The football federation yesterday banned two Irad League players for life for taking money to lose a league match in September. The federation said the payments had come from a betting syndicate in Nurzhan.

The players, a goalkeeper aged 29 and a defender aged 24 from the same first-division club, were not named by the federation, but their club confirmed that they had been dismissed. The club said it had "cooperated fully" and had no knowledge of the arrangement.

The federation's disciplinary committee said its evidence came from messages on the Tulpar app, where most illegal bets in Irad are now placed through anonymous channels, and from a sudden shift in the odds offered by foreign betting sites before the match. It has passed the file to the Gendarmerie. No one had been charged by last night.

Illegal bookmakers in Talas and Nurzhan take bets on horse racing, ulak and the league, offering better odds than the tote and credit to regular customers. "Everyone knows where the money is," said a coach in the league. "Today two boys pay for it. The men who paid them are still taking bets."