Football Notes: Barclays Asia Trophy Participants Revealed

The Premier League, Hong Kong FA and financial services company Barclays have announced Man City, Tottenham, Sunderland and South China FC will compete for the Barclays Asia Trophy Hong Kong in July. The four team knock-out tournament will take place over two match days on July 24 and 27, with a final to determine the winner and a playoff to decide third place. All matches will take place in the Hong Kong Stadium (Premier League). ... The Korea FA will lift lifetime bans on players involved in an '11 match-fixing scandal. The organization decided to reduce the penalties on 11 K League Classic players who were "either acquitted in court for their alleged roles in match-fixing or reported themselves to officials" (YONHAP, 1/17). ... Brasileiro club Corinthians has been ranked second behind Ligue 1 Paris St. Germain among the world's highest spending clubs so far in '13. At the midway point of FIFA's European winter transfer window on Wednesday, Corinthians had spent €22.4M ($30M) and PSG €40M ($53.5M), according to German football website Transfermarket (XINHUA, 1/17).