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

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward who played for

. He was in the Singapore squad in the

1984 Asian Cup The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the 8th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Singapore between 1 Decemb ...

. He also played for Jurong Town.

Career

In the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

tournament, Kannan has played for

Singapore FA Singapore FA was a representative team of the Football Association of Singapore in competitions run by the Football Association of Malaysia, separate from the Singapore national football team, Singapore national team. Despite dissolving in 19 ...

(debuting in 1981) and

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

. 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 Singapo ...

1992 season while playing for

Geylang International Geylang International Football Club is a professional football club based in Bedok, Singapore, that competes in Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was founded in 1973 and played their first season ...

. 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 () was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ra ...

(MPL), the

Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) is an independent agency of the Government of Singapore responsible for the investigation and prosecution of any possible serious or complex fraud and corruption in Singapore. The CPIB has the ma ...

(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 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. Rajendran was named as the witness in this case. In the seven-day-long trial, Lee testified that he was not aware of the match-fixing plans. Kannan and Ong was found guilty of conspiring and bribery, and were jailed and fined.

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

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