Former Wellington Phoenix captain Ulises Davila appears in court over A-League bet-fixing scandal

Ulises Davila is alleged to be the orchestrator of the A-League bet-fixing scandal. Photo / Getty Images

Macarthur FC captain Ulises Davila has appeared in court for the first time over allegations he acted as the local ringleader in an illegal bet-fixing scheme.

The 33-year-old has been accused of paying two of the A-League Men club’s midfielders, Kearyn Baccus, 32, and Clayton Lewis, 27, up to $10,000 to deliberately receive yellow cards.

Police say the betting scheme led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being paid out in winnings and was headed by a South American connection.

Davila appeared for the first time at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Monday. Baccus’s case was also mentioned in his absence after the midfielder fronted court in May.

The court heard prosecutors will present a brief of evidence to the players’ lawyers by August 22. Davila’s bail conditions were also varied by the court, requiring him to report to Maroubra police station just one day a week instead of two.

Lewis will have his turn in court on June 27.

Investigators allege yellow cards, which are universally issued as cautions by referees for foul play, were manipulated during games played on November 24 and December 9.

Macarthur played out a 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory on November 24 before beating Sydney FC 2-0 on December 9.

All three accused players were booked in the December 9 game against Sydney.

Police also allege unsuccessful attempts were made to do the same thing during matches on April 20 and May 4.

Football Australia subsequently stood down the trio, hitting them with no-fault interim suspension notices under its code of conduct.

Both Baccus and another player embroiled in the betting scandal, Matthew Millar, were recently released by the Bulls during an off-season clean-out.

Millar was named in court documents as one of those involved in the alleged criminal group behind the purported bet-fixing scheme, but he has not been charged.

Davila and Lewis both remained contracted to the club after the early June announcement for their teammates.