Match Fixing Scandal Shakes Southeast Asian Football

The Asian Football Confederation banned nearly two-dozen players and officials during an ongoing investigation into allegations that several teams, including the national team, in Laos were engaged in match fixing stretching as far back as 2014, according to reports.

"The [AFC] Disciplinary Committee has issued a life ban from football-related activities to twenty-two individuals from Laos and Cambodia for involvement in the manipulation of matches involving the representative teams of Laos and the club side Lao Toyota FC," the committee said in a statement. "The AFC investigation into the manipulation of matches involving the representative teams of the Lao Football Federation commenced in 2014 and remains ongoing."

The investigation charged 18 players with fixing matches in order to profit from illegal sports bets. Five players were found to have groomed individuals to manipulate the results of future matches.

The ban includes 15 players plying their trade with either the Laos national team or Lao Toyota FC, a professional side based in Vientiane.

Officials implicated in the ban fired back at the AFC, denying the allegations.

"I'm against this because the punishment was made without proof," Peas Sothy, coach of C-League team National Police FC, told the Cambodia Daily. "I made my career as a football coach and if they don't allow me to work, I'll be finished. What am I going to do? Be a motodop [ojek] driver? Be a cyclo driver?"

A former coach of the Laos national team expressed shock at the charges.

"They trained well and always gave 100 percent in matches," former coach Steve Darby told the Indian Express. I trusted them. One of the others I dropped from the squad but that was for form and nothing else."

Match fixing continues to be a problem in Southeast Asia, where players earn far less than the superstars and Europe, making them prime targets for people looking to rig a match and profit off sports bets. In 2016, two Thai referees were banned for life after being found guilty of influencing results of four games between 2013 and 2014.

An Indonesian footballer was sentenced to 30 months in jail for his role in fixing the Malaysia-East Timor match at the SEA Games in 2015. The man, Nasiruddin, plead guilty to the charges, stating he was the sole provider for this family and needed the money.

Bambang Suryo, a former match fixer, told local media in 2015 that match fixing had been a problem in Indonesia since 2010. He claimed that 18 games involving Indonesian teams were tainted by the practice. He has since received death threats for revealing the allegations.