Kuniuraman Kannan (sometimes spelt Kunjuraman Kannan), more popularly known as K. Kannan, is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

an football forward who played for

. He was in the Singapore squad in the 1984 Asian Cup. He also played for Jurong Town.

Career

In the Malaysia Cup tournament, Kannan has played for

Singapore FA Singapore FA was a representative team of footballers representing the Football Association of Singapore in domestic competitions run by the Football Association of Malaysia. This is separate from the Singapore national team. As it permits o ...

(debuting in 1981) and

Kuala Lumpur FA Kuala Lumpur City Football Club, known simply as KL City FC, is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuala Lumpur. The club competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top level of Malaysian football, and was founded in 1974 as Feder ...

. Kannan was named the Player of the Year in

FAS Premier League The Football Association of Singapore Premier League was a semi-professional football league competition held in Singapore between 1988 and 1995. The Premier League succeeded the National Football League Division One as the top tier of the Singapor ...

1992 season while playing for Geylang International. He then signed a record contract to play for Changi United.

Match-fixing

Following widespread rumours about corruption within the sports among the teams who played in the

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leag ...

(MPL), the

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) is a government agency in Singapore under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The CPIB has the mandate to investigate into any acts or forms of corruption in the public and private sectors in Sing ...

(CPIB) launched an investigation and had interviewed multiple players, including Kannan. On 24 October 1994, Kannan and Changi United Club manager Ong Kheng Hock was arrested for match fixing at the recent MPL season. On instructions from a businessman, Rajendran R. Kupusamy. They were faced three charges for allegedly trying to fix two MPL matches by bribing goalkeeper David Lee as while as receiving rewards for their actions. In the first match against Perlis, Lee was offered and he was to help reduce the winning margins by Singapore. Singapore won 2-1 in that match. In the second match against, Selangor, Lee was offered to ensure that the game would end up in a draw. Singapore won 3-1 in that match instead. Lee was not charged with any crimes. Rejendran was named as the witness in this case. In the seven-day long trial, Lee testified that he was not aware of the matching fixing plans. Kannan and Ong was found guilty of conspiring and bribery, and were jailed and fined. Football Association of Singapore also had banned Kannan, and other players involved in corruption and match-fixing for life from the sports. Over the years, Kannan would file five appeals to the FAS, appealing to them to remove the ban against him. However, they were largely unsuccessful until in 2022 when FAS decided to lift the ban after reviewing his fifth attempt. One of his release conditions was to participate in anti-corruption drives and engagements for six months from when the ban was lifted.

Personal life

Kannan is married with 3 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kannan, K. Singaporean men's footballers Singapore men's international footballers Living people Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean sportspeople of Indian descent Singapore FA players Kuala Lumpur City F.C. players Geylang International FC players 1984 AFC Asian Cup players Jurong FC players SEA Games silver medalists for Singapore SEA Games medalists in football Men's association football forwards Year of birth missing (living people) Competitors at the 1983 SEA Games