22 from Laos, Cambodia get life bans for fixing

KUALA LUMPUR: Twenty-two players and officials from Laos and Cambodia have been handed life bans in one of Asian football’s biggest mass punishments for match-fixing.

The Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) said the action follows an investigation that started in 2014, and that it will seek to have the bans extended worldwide.

“The ( AFC) Discipl inary 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,” a statement said late on Wednesday.

“The AFC investigation into the manipulation of matches involving the representative teams of the Lao Football Federation commenced in 2014 and remains ongoing,” it added.

Fifteen of those banned are current or former players of the Laos national side or Vientianebased Lao Toyota FC, the AFC said. Details of the games involved were not released, but four of the players had been provisionally suspended during the AFC Solidarity Cup involving Laos in November.

“( The players’ ) ongoing participation provided a direct threat to the integrity of the competition,” the AFC said at the time, adding that the suspensions also related to “suspected manipulation of multiple matches committed by the representative teams of Laos since 2010”.

Laos played three matches at the Solidarity Cup, beating Sri Lanka 2-1 and Mongolia 3- 0, and losing 4-1 to Macau.

Poorly paid Asian footballers and officials have long been vulnerable to advances from match fixers seeking to manipulate games for betting purposes.