1. Hansie Cronje

The first on the list is Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje (1969–2002), who was a prominent cricketer and the captain of the South African national cricket team during the 1990s. He was a right-handed all-rounder and captained South Africa in 52 Test matches, winning 27 of them. However, his career started to crumble in 2000 after a match-fixing scandal. An investigation was conducted into the cricketer, leading to evidence against him. He was banned from playing cricket for life in October 2000.

Cronje was around 30 years old when the authorities found that he had taken bribes from bookmakers, provided them with information and was involved in match-fixing. The Delhi Police revealed that during a wiretapping operation in March 2000, the cricketer was heard conspiring with an Indian bookmaker, Sanjeev Chawla. At first, the cricketer completely dismissed all allegations, but Cronje subsequently confessed to Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, in a phone call. He was immediately stripped of his captaincy while his team was preparing for a match against Australia in 2000.