FORMER Athlone Town players Igors Labuts and Dragos Sfrijan will serve 12-month bans for match fixing after their appeal was dismissed by an Independent Disciplinary Committee.
The pair were banned by the FAI in September 2017, after a four-month investigation into suspicious betting activity on Asian markets.
This centred on the Athlone Town-Longford Town league game in April of that year.
And the FAI today confirmed that an Independent Disciplinary Appeal Committee has rejected the appeal.
Statement on Athlone Town AFC investigation - https://t.co/EiAEpOjeN8 pic.twitter.com/1pGMe8HJll
— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) October 5, 2018
A statement from the organisation said: "Both Igors Labuts and Dragos Sfrijan had been found to be in breach of three FAI rules:
Rule 99: Bringing the Game into Disrepute
Rule 105: Manipulating Matches
Rule 106: Betting / Gambling
"The two players were subsequently banned from all football-related activities for 12 months.
"On Thursday, October 5, the Independent Disciplinary Appeal Committee met to hear the appeal from the two players. As Mr Sfrijan did not attend the hearing his appeal was dismissed. Mr Labuts’ appeal was rejected.
"The breach concerns Athlone Town's game against Longford Town in the SSE Airtricity League First Division on April 29, 2017.
"The FAI has a zero tolerance policy to match-fixing."
As part of the appeals process, Latvian goalkeeper Labuts and Sfrijan, from Romania, first needed to appeal to an independent arbitrator appointed by the FAI.
They now have the option of appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
