Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has been fined 8,000 pounds ($10,000) for breaching gambling rules by betting on games.

Scholes was charged by the English Football Association for placing 140 bets on matches between August 2015 and January 2019, covering a period when he was a director at then-fifth-division club Salford City.

The former England international has apologized for what he described as a "genuine mistake," saying he didn't intend to "flout the rules."

Scholes says "I wrongly believed that as long as there was no personal connection between me and any of the matches that I bet upon then there would be no issue."

Players and officials in soccer in England are banned from betting on any games.