Football Australia has banned four soccer players, including New Zealand international Clayton Lewis, over match-fixing offences.
Ex-Macarthur FC pair Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were handed five-year bans from the sport, backdated to May 17 when their no-fault interim suspensions began.
Lewis, 28, and Baccus, 34, have the option of reducing their respective bans by 12 months should they chose to complete 200 hours of unpaid football-related community service, with Australian soccer’s governing body saying this would “support FA’s integrity and education programs”.
Should they take that option, their respective suspensions would expire in May 2028, when Lewis will be 31 and Baccus will be 36.
Riku Danzaki, formerly of Australian A-League side Western United, and Yuta Hirayama, most recently of Melbourne-based club Bayside Argonauts, have been banned from all football-related activity for seven years, with those suspensions starting on July 1, 2025.
Football Australia added that all four players have accepted their suspensions and will not appeal.
Lewis, capped 27 times by New Zealand between 2015 and 2024, has spent the majority of his career in his homeland, alongside a two-year stint at English club Scunthorpe United ahead of joining Macarthur FC in 2023.
South African-born Baccus, who represented Australia up to under-17 level, counts Perth Glory and Kaizer Chiefs among his former clubs.
Danzaki, a 25-year-old Japanese midfielder, also played in the A-League, having had a short stint at Scottish club Motherwell in 2023, while Hirayama, 28, first moved to Australia in 2020 and spent time at non-professional clubs Western Pride, Brisbane City and Peninsula Power.