AN S-LEAGUE footballer who took money from his manager to throw a game had his original seven-month jail term cut to five months on Thursday.

In reducing Zhao Zhipeng's sentence by two months, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said the 26-year-old player had been under the thumb of a domineering general manager and had 'no choice' but to fix the match.

Zhao was the first of seven footballers in the Liaoning Guangyuan squad charged with match fixing to be convicted.

Manager Wang Xin has been charged with offering bribes to his players but jumped bail in January. All are Chinese nationals.

Zhao pleaded guilty in February to accepting $2,000 from Wang as a reward for helping his side lose a match against Gombak United Football Club by at least three goals.

Two other corruption charges were taken into consideration by District Judge Toh Yung Cheong, who sent Zhao to prison for seven months, the longest jail term handed down to a footballer for match-fixing.

Zhao, who also had to pay a $4,000 penalty, appealed.

On Thursday, his lawyer Raymond Lye argued that seven months? jail was out of line with sentences for similar crimes. He said the courts had imposed shorter jail terms and lower fines for more serious match-fixing cases.

Mr Lye painted a picture of a team controlled by Wang, who 'held a firm grip' on the players and 'controlled their fate and destiny'.

Wang, the alleged mastermind of the bribery scandal, was a much-feared disciplinarian who once sent nine players back to China, he said.

Zhao did what Wang told him not out of greed but for fear of being seen as defiant, argued Mr Lye, who suggested his client should only be fined.

But Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong argued that the original sentence was correct, given the 'growing international dimension' of the S-League.

The CJ said he will issue detailed grounds for his decision.