A total of 26 players from two Danish handball clubs have been found guilty of 'unethical behaviour' relating to a gift that one of the clubs gave to another as an incentive to win a game, Metroexpress reports.

Danish sport's body, the DIF, has given a one-day ban and a 1,000 kroner fine to eight players from Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (BSV) and the entire Sønderjyske team. 

A gift to win a match
During their last match of this year's regular season, the BSV players approached the Sønderjyske team with a 15,000 kroner 'gift'. 

They wanted Sønderjyske to win their match against Skanderborg so that BSV could qualify for the finals. Sønderjyske accepted. 

All the accused players pleaded guilty.

Just a mild violation of the rules
According to Torben Jessen from the DIF, offering and accepting financial gifts between two teams is a violation of the rules.

"The players were sanctioned relatively mildly, although they got a ban. The reason is that we are not talking about match-fixing here, but about a milder form of unethical behaviour," Jessen told the newspaper.

It is the same kind of behaviour that the former Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup said he found nothing wrong with.

Speaking to the BBC in September 2012, he said: "If Swansea play the last game against a team and a third team pays Swansea to win the game, I really don't see anything bad about that.”