A former A-League captain who was feted as the competition’s player of the year has admitted his role in a lucrative yellow card fixing scam.
Ulises Davila, 34, was accused of being the ringleader of the betting scam which saw him and two Macarthur Bulls teammates deliberately earn on-field cautions to satisfy a betting outcome.
The charges related to six football games across the 2023 and 2024 A-League seasons.
The former Macarthur FC captain faced a Sydney court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to facilitating and engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome of an event.
Eight charges – including that Davila directed and participated in a criminal group – were withdrawn by prosecutors in the Downing Centre Local Court.
During a match on December 9, 2023 against Sydney FC, Davila and his teammates Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus were issued yellow cards.
Former Macarthur Bulls captain Ulises Davila has pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to engaging in conduct that corrupts the betting outcome during six games in the 2023 and 2024 A-League seasons
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 before his fall from grace in Australia
Davila paid Macarthur teammates Clayton Lewis and Kearyn Baccus (pictured, left) $10,000 each for their roles in the betting scam, the teammates said previously in court
The skipper 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 Macarthur 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 club.
The Bulls previously issued a strongly worded statement that said ‘serious deficiencies’ around integrity processes in Australian football need to be addressed.
Ex-Macarthur FC star Ulises Davila with his wife Lily and son Uli junior before her tragic death in 2022
Lily Pacheco was diagnosed with Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), a cerebrovascular disease which affects blood flow and blood vessels in the brain
‘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 then signed by English powerhouse Chelsea.
He never cracked the Blues first team, and eventually arrived 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.
The couple met as teenagers, but were soon separated as Davila departed home aged 20 for Europe, signing a long-term contract with Chelsea.
A series of loan moves followed, before Davila returned to Mexico where he signed for Santos Laguna.
Ulises Davila caught the eye for Delhi Dynamos FC in India before moving to the A-League in 2019, signing with Wellington Phoenix
Following the death of his wife, Davila was a star with Macarthur – but he threw away his storied reputation in an instant due to his role in the yellow card saga
Dávila and Pacheco quickly reunited, and soon were married.
Sadly, Pacheco was then diagnosed with Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), a cerebrovascular disease that affects blood flow and blood vessels in the brain.
AVM occurs when blood vessels in the brain tangle, meaning blood flows with less oxygen from the brain to the heart.
Surgery for the new mother followed, and in a devastating blow, it wasn’t successful.
After consulting a doctor, Davila made the toughest decision of his life – he said goodbye to his beloved wife as she was left brain dead following the operation in Mexico.
Now a single dad, Davila returned to Australia and was a star with Macarthur – but he threw away his storied reputation in an instant due to his role in the betting saga.
Davila will be sentenced on December 19.
