Vietnam’s Investigations Agency has recently decided to prosecute a group of soccer players, officials, and coaches involved in a sports betting rigging scandal.
Members of the Pjico Song Lam Nghe Anclub soccer team are accused of bribing other teams to not play their best in order to win the league’s championship tournament. They also attempted, allegedly, to convince members of the national soccer team to purposely lose a match against the Mynamar national team at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in November 2005 in the Philippines. They had previously arranged to bet against their own team with several bookies. Several of the national team’s members who agreed to take part in the scheme are currently under investigation.
Match-fixing is not rare in Vietnam. In the few months since August 2005, some 50 local football club referees have been accused of partaking in this type of activity. Nineteen of these have been prosecuted, to date.
All forms of gambling by Vietnamese citizens living within Vietnam are illegal. |
