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A former A-League captain who was feted as the competition’s player of the year has admitted his role in a lucrative card-fixing scam.
Ulises Davila, age 34, was accused of spearheading the betting operation, which involved him and two teammates from Macarthur Bulls intentionally receiving yellow cards to influence betting results.
The allegations pertain to six football matches spanning the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Today, the ex-captain of Macarthur FC appeared in a Sydney court, where he admitted to actions that manipulated the betting outcomes of these events.
In the Downing Centre Local Court, prosecutors decided to drop eight charges against him, which included allegations of leading and participating in a criminal group.
The Mexican will be sentenced on December 19.
During a match on December 9, 2023, against Sydney FC, Davila and his teammates Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were handed yellow cards.
The captain was cautioned for delaying play by kicking the ball away, Lewis was carded for pushing an opponent in the chest, and Baccus was rebuked for a poor tackle.
Bets had been placed on the Macathur team receiving at least four cards during the game, according to facts agreed to by Davila’s teammates.
Winning payouts for the bets placed through gambling site Betplay totalled more than $200,000.
Davila paid Lewis and Baccus $10,000 each for their roles in the betting scam, the teammates said.
Both men were handed good-behaviour bonds and escaped conviction in September, with the magistrate finding the pair were “right at the bottom of the scheme”.
Lewis and Baccus emphasised they had become involved at the behest of Davila, who they claimed was “not only the captain of the team, but the captain of the scheme”.
All three players were suspended by Macarthur FC after their arrests and are no longer contracted to the team.
The club previously issued a strongly worded statement that said “serious deficiencies” around integrity processes in Australian football needed to be addressed.
“The systems in place are inadequate to protect clubs from risk and lack the responsiveness required to manage issues of this magnitude,” the statement read.
“A comprehensive review and reform of integrity protocols is urgently required to safeguard the future of the game.”
Davila was an elite youth talent who played at an under-20 World Cup with Mexico and was signed by English powerhouse Chelsea as a 20-year-old.
He never cracked the Blues first team, and instead played in a number of leagues before arriving in the A-League in 2019 with Wellington Phoenix.
He won the Johnny Warren Medal as the best player in the league in 2020-21 and shifted to Macarthur after that season, where he was named captain.
In 2022, the Mexican faced heartbreak as Lily Pacheco, his wife and mother of their two-year-old son, died aged 31.
There are many different ways to get help and information about gambling. You can visit the National Gambling Helpline or call on 1800 858 858.