Zhao Zhipeng, who has been implicated in the scandal with six Liaoning Guanyuan teammates, pleaded guilty this week to charges of fixing three matches.

The 26-year-old centre forward received a total of US$2,800 from club manager Wang Xin for helping to ensure that the club lost by a certain margin in the matches concerned.

Zhao is appealing the punishment, the stiffest ever handed out in a match-fixing case in Singapore, and has been released on a US$17,500 bail.

The other six players involved in the scandal are goalkeeper Dong Lei, defenders Li Xuebai and Wang Lin, midfielder Peng Zhiyi and forwards Tong Di and Li Zheng. All seven are Chinese nationals.

A warrant of arrest has been issued for club manager Wang, who failed to show up in court last month to answer 25 charges of match-fixing after returning home to China.

Liaoning Guangyuan, a satellite club of China Super League side Liaoning, played in the S-League for the first time last season, posting a record of eight wins, five draws and 20 defeats as they finished 10th in the 12-team standings.

They have been excluded from the league this year with their place taken by another Chinese side, Dalian Shide.