VIENNA (AP) The Austrian football player who claimed to be blackmailed by former international Sanel Kuljic admitted on Thursday that he tried to persuade four teammates at a first-division club to fix games last season.
Groedig director Christian Haas said the attempts by player Dominique Taboga failed and no match involving the club has been manipulated.
"Dominique Taboga has confirmed he talked about it with four players," Haas said. "That's why we were forced into terminating his contract. All players confirmed to me that they haven't been manipulating in any way. I am proud of that."
Haas said Groedig and Taboga parted ways by mutual consent after the defender's confession on Thursday, a day after Taboga told state prosecutors in Salzburg that Kuljic had talked him into fixing matches to settle a personal debt.
Prosecutors said Kuljic was arrested on Tuesday after Taboga filed charges, claiming he was forced to pay Kuljic nearly 30,000 euros ($40,200) and was threatened by the former Austria international after refusing to prevent Groedig from winning matches.