A South Korean coach has been arrested for blackmailing a player over his involvement in the match-fixing scandal that has engulfed the country's professional soccer league, a defence ministry official told Reuters on Tuesday. The head coach of K-League side Sangju Sangmu Phoenix took 10 million won ($9,451) from the parents of the player to conceal his role in the worst scandal in the league's 28-year history, said a spokesperson of the defence ministry's prosecutor's office.
The official declined to reveal the coach's full name, citing his safety. "Coach Lee has been arrested yesterday on suspicion of intimidation... We are still investigating the case," the spokesperson said. The player was among the 46 arrested last week in relation to the attempted fixing of 15 matches from June to October last year. Prosecutors have also charged 11 brokers, including several former players, with match-fixing and 10 players have been slapped with life bans. The coach had also demanded money from the parents of other players, the Yonhap news agency reported.
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