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4. Standard Liege (1982)
Standard Liege were involved in a match-fixing scandal that rocked Belgium a few decades ago. Club manager Raymond Goethals had instructed players to offer their match bonuses as bribes to their opponents.
This would have allowed Standard Liege to ensure victory and win the title trophy. It would've also allowed them to keep their players match-fit and uninjured for their game against Barcelona.
After the match-fixing scandal came to the fore, Goethals was banned from managing in Belgium for life. 13 Standard Liege players were also found quilty and banned from Belgian football.
Notably, Goethals would go on to coach Marseilles and bring them their Champions League trophy in 1993. In the same year that Tapei was involved in the club's Ligue 1 match-fixing scandal.
3. Choi Sung-kuk (2011)
South Korean football took an unexpected turn in 2011 when a huge match-fixing controversy saw dozens of active and former K-League players indicted and found guilty. Most notably, Choi Sung-kuk, a former South Korea forward, received a lifetime ban from playing football in the country. FIFA then made the decision to extend his ban worldwide, essentially ending his football career.
Choi was found guilty of fixing two games while playing for his former team Gwangju Sangmu. The scandal, which had found its way to dozens of footballers, saw Choi receive a 10-month suspended prison sentence as well.
Choi's punishment is notably one of the heaviest handed to an individual footballer for match-fixing.
2. Kurt Rothlisberger (1997)
In 1997, top Swiss and World Cup referee Kurt Rothlisberger didn't think his actions would lead to a lifetime ban from the sport. Before a Champions League game between Grasshoppers and Auxerre, Rothlisberger suggested to Grasshopper officials that $70,000 would be enough to convince Vadim Zhuk — the referee assigned to the game — to make calls in their favor.
While Grasshoppers did win the game, there was no proof that Zhuk took a bribe to ensure their win. According to Rothlisberger, he had just been "stupid" in a casual conversation with the then Grasshopper manager Erich Vogel when he mentioned it. The referee was banned for life, right after he decided to retire from football in 1996.
1. Bruce Grobbelaar (1994)
It's rare to find major match-fixing scandals in English football. That's what made former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar very popular when the Sun accused him of taking bribes to concede goals against Newcastle United. The former star was charged with match-fixing and sent to court.
To this day, he has maintained innocence and denied any wrongdoing. They had to go through two trials, but the juries failed to come to a conclusive verdict. It is believed that though he had accepted the bribes, he did not let in goals to fix the outcome of the match.
