By Philip O'Connor
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - An appeals court has found former Premier League player Dickson Etuhu guilty of attempting to fix a match in Sweden's top division, overturning the verdict of a lower court.
The case centred on allegations that the 37-year-old Etuhu, who has played for Manchester City, Norwich, Sunderland, Fulham and Blackburn as well as Swedish club AIK, conspired together with another man to offer former team-mate Kyriakos "Kenny" Stamatopoulos money to fix a game between AIK and IFK Gothenburg in spring 2017.
"What preceded the meeting and what was said at the meeting must be seen in a context. In the opinion of the court, Kenny Stam has clearly been offered an improper benefit," the Court Of Appeal in Stockholm said in its judgment published on Wednesday.
It fined Etuhu and ordered him to serve a period of probation.
The Stockholm District court originally found Etuhu, a former Nigeria international, not guilty, deciding that there was not enough evidence of a concrete monetary offer being made to Stamatopoulos, AIK's reserve goalkeeper at the time.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by John Stonestreet)