TWO former Newcastle United stars have been named as being involved in an FA Cup final ticket scandal.

Former Magpies players Andreas Andersson and George Georgiadis were said to have sold tickets for the 1999 final against Manchester United to a tout.

The pair, with 20 other players, were double-crossed by the tout in the £30,000 scam, the FA investigation revealed.

The tout paid the players, who demanded £450 for each ticket priced at £36, in monopoly money.

Neither of the players can be punished by the FA because both have since left the country to play abroad.

But the middleman in the deal, former reserve team goalkeeper Peter Keen, now at Carlisle United, was fined £1,000 and banned from receiving free cup final tickets for life by the FA.

Former youth team player Michael Harris was banned from receiving tickets for 15 years.

Swedish international Andersson, 26, was reported as being on £20,000 a week at Newcastle. Greek Georgiadis was on £10,000 a week. Andersson is now at ALK Stockholm and Georgiadis at PAOK Salonica.

FA spokesman Adrian Bevington confirmed the details of the investigation yesterday.

He said: "This matter was brought to our attention by a national newspaper and we had an extensive investigation. The two players who have left the country could possibly still face disciplinary action if they returned to play in this country, but that is something we would have to consider."