A young Hong Kong footballer has admitted trying to bribe team-mates to throw an international friendly match against Russia, a report said yesterday.

Iu Wai, a 20-year-old defender for Hong Kong’s Under-21 side, pleaded guilty to two counts of bribery at a local court on Friday, the South China Morning Post reported.

The newspaper report said Iu promised two team-mates – a defender and a goalkeeper – “several tens of thousands of dollars” if they helped to deliberately lose a friendly against the Russian youth team.

The duo refused and reported it to the anti-corruption authorities, which staged an unprecedented raid during the November 5 friendly game while 5,000 spectators looked on.

Iu was arrested later.

The court heard Iu was approached by a person in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, who asked him to fix the match in return for cash.

The friendly match, which Russia won 2-1, was arranged during a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the city in April.

The court has fixed December 30 for sentencing.