SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian football chiefs on Tuesday welcomed worldwide bans imposed on two English players over a match-fixing scam in state soccer that has been linked to an international betting syndicate.

Football Federation Australia hailed the move by world governing body Fifa to extend the Australian bans on Southern Stars players Joe Woolley and Reiss Noel after they were convicted of manipulating games.

Reports in Australia have said the scam, in Victoria's state league, netted around A$2 million (S$2.3 million) in illicit winnings and that the authorities suspected links to one of the world's most notorious match-fixers.

Convicted Singaporean fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, who is under police protection in Hungary, was at the centre of the investigation, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in September.