Players' chief Gordon Taylor doubts claims that a player accepted a £50,000 bribe to fix a match are true.
The report emanated from a seminar on gambling held by the Sporting Chance charity, set up by Tony Adams to help players battling addictions.
But Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, believes the player involved may have over-elaborated.
According to the report, the player agreed to get himself sent off and persuaded three team-mates to get booked in a specific game in return for a bookmaker writing off his gambling debts.
The Football Association are investigating, but Taylor told PA Sport: "It's disappointing to have this story put in the public domain and leave a cloud hanging over the game, and I would imagine the FA are asking Sporting Chance to be more forthcoming.
"I find it beyond the realms of credulity that a player would approach three others and ask them to get themselves booked.
"It would get around the rest of the team and get back to the manager, there would be fines for players who got booked. I find it beyond belief.
"We support that clinic and their attempts to get players on track and it is disappointing that something like this should emanate from them.
"I do think in such seminars that stories can get over-elaborated for effect."
According to the report, the match in question was played in the last two years "in Britain", but the report did not name the player nor state which league or home nation was involved.
An FA spokesman said: "We will be making inquiries into this report."
FA investigators' first step will be to establish whether the match concerned took place in England otherwise it would be beyond their jurisdiction.
Sporting Chance's chief executive Peter Kay was not available for comment today but told The Independent he was aware of the case.
Kay said: "Neither I nor Sporting Chance is responsible for what a client or ex-client might say, but if you're asking whether I'm aware of this case, the answer is yes."
Kay said last year there had been "a marked increase in the amount of referrals and a worrying escalation regarding gambling addiction".
But Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, believes the player involved may have over-elaborated.
According to the report, the player agreed to get himself sent off and persuaded three team-mates to get booked in a specific game in return for a bookmaker writing off his gambling debts.
The Football Association are investigating, but Taylor told PA Sport: "It's disappointing to have this story put in the public domain and leave a cloud hanging over the game, and I would imagine the FA are asking Sporting Chance to be more forthcoming.
"I find it beyond the realms of credulity that a player would approach three others and ask them to get themselves booked.
"It would get around the rest of the team and get back to the manager, there would be fines for players who got booked. I find it beyond belief.
"We support that clinic and their attempts to get players on track and it is disappointing that something like this should emanate from them.
"I do think in such seminars that stories can get over-elaborated for effect."
According to the report, the match in question was played in the last two years "in Britain", but the report did not name the player nor state which league or home nation was involved.
An FA spokesman said: "We will be making inquiries into this report."
FA investigators' first step will be to establish whether the match concerned took place in England otherwise it would be beyond their jurisdiction.
Sporting Chance's chief executive Peter Kay was not available for comment today but told The Independent he was aware of the case.
Kay said: "Neither I nor Sporting Chance is responsible for what a client or ex-client might say, but if you're asking whether I'm aware of this case, the answer is yes."
Kay said last year there had been "a marked increase in the amount of referrals and a worrying escalation regarding gambling addiction".
Copyright (c) Press Association
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