Laos footballers suspended in match-fixing probe

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) – The Asian Football Confederation said on Monday it had provisionally suspended four Laos national-team members as it investigates suspected manipulation of “multiple matches” going back years.

The players — Saynakhonevieng Phommapanya, Chintana Souksavath, Moukda Souksavath and Phatthana Syvilay — were provisionally suspended for 60 days for “various violations… related to suspected match manipulation,” the AFC said in a statement.

The Kuala Lumpur-based federation added that other footballers also were under investigation, without naming them.

All four of those suspended were active for the ongoing AFC Solidarity Cup — a competition of teams eliminated from World Cup and Asian Cup contention — and had competed in Laos’s first game last week, a 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka, the AFC said.

They were sidelined because “their ongoing participation provided a direct threat to the integrity of the competition,” it said.

“The provisional suspensions relate not only to the AFC Solidarity Cup but also to suspected manipulation of multiple matches committed by the representative teams of Laos since 2010.

“The investigation is ongoing and not limited to those players provisionally suspended.”

The AFC gave no further details.