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Vietnam supports AFC decision of life ban on nine Vietnamese footballers

Xinhua, May 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The life ban issued by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on nine Vietnamese football players for match-fixing is an "adequate punishment", said Vietnamese Football Federation (VFF) on Friday.

The VFF' s comment came after the decision of the AFC banning nine Vietnamese players for life from any football-related activity by the Chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee on May 20, 2015, for their involvement in match-fixing.

The VFF will strictly remove such "tumors" out of Vietnamese football industry, VFF was quoted by Vietnam's state-run news agency as saying.

On Friday, the AFC posts on its website that "The VFF Disciplinary Committee suspended the players, all from XM Vissai Ninh Binh FC, permanently on December 25, 2014, with a previous temporary suspension on May 20, 2014. The Chairman of the AFC Disciplinary Committee has now extended the permanent ban to take effect at confederation level."

"This means that the nine players are banned from all football activities in all AFC Member Associations," reads the AFC website.

This action was undertaken following a request from the VFF pursuant to Article 136 of the AFC Disciplinary Code.

The nine players are Tran Manh Dung, Nguyen Manh Dung, Pham Xuan Phu, Le Quang Hung, Chu Ngoc Anh, Le Van Duyet, Nguyen Gia Tu, Phan Anh Tuan, Nguyen Van Hung.

Earlier in 2014, the nine players and one bookmaker were sentenced for manipulating scores in a match at AFC Cup held in March 2014.

Accordingly, player Tran Manh Dung and Dao Duc Loi, the bookmaker, were charged with 30 months imprisonment, while other eight players received suspended sentences.

At a qualifying match between the XM Vissai Ninh Binh and Malaysia's Kelantan on March 18 in Malaysia, the nine players joined in match fixing organized by Loi for 1.02 billion Vietnamese dong (over 47,200 U.S. dollar). The XM Vissai Ninh Binh then defeated Kelantan 3-2.

Commenting on an article relating the life ban of the nine players, a reader named Le Tuan said, "I agreed with the punishment. It is necessary to have such strict measures to make Vietnamese football industry further develop."

Viet Yen Nguyen, another reader, said "They deserve to be punished. No more chances for cheating." Endi