Life bans for three Guatemalan footballers

Zurich: FIFA has banned three Guatemalan national team players for life for match fixing.

World football`s governing body claimed midfielder Guillermo Ramirez Ortega and defenders Yony Wilson Flores Monroy and Gustavo Adolfo Cabrera Marroquin helped fix the results of three matches. The players "have all been banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity, for life," FIFA said in a statement Wednesday. Two of the matches were friendly defeats for the national team; 0-2 to Venezuela last year and 2-3 loss to Costa Rica in May. The third was a CONCACAF Champions League game between CSD Municipal and Santos Laguna in 2010, which Santos won 6-1. Only Yony Flores and Guillermo Ramirez were Municipal players at the time. The players had already been banned for life nationally by the Guatemalan FA last month. IANS