TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Four Japanese professional footballers who smashed up a parked car while on a drunken binge have been fined, their club said on Wednesday.
The Vegalta Sendai players climbed on to the roof of the vehicle, causing almost $3,000 worth of damage, during pre-season training in the southern Japanese city of Miyazaki.
"We offer our deepest apologies," Yoshitaka Nagawa, chairman of the J-League second division side told a news conference after last week's case of vandalism came to light.
"We will take extreme measures to ensure this never happens again."
The culprits would each be docked 20 percent of their wages for the next three months as punishment, the club said.
Following the incident, which happened on a night when club officials had lifted the players' curfew, team mates apologised to the owner of the car, who said he did not want to press charges after the club offered to pay for the repairs.
The players involved were confined to the team's training base from the following morning.
"I told them they had to be more professional and mend their ways," Vegalta coach Makoto Teguramori said. "They were also told to show humility."