Viet official resigns over SEAG football match-fixing

HANOI, Vietnam — A senior Vietnamese football official has resigned over a match-fixing scandal at the recent Southeast Asian Games, the Vietnam Football Federation said Tuesday.

Le The Tho, the soccer federation’s vice president, submitted his resignation to the executive committee Monday and it was accepted, federation president Nguyen Trong Hy said in a telephone interview.

In the past week, state-controlled media have launched concerted attacks against Tho, calling for his resignation because of his failure to stop several Vietnamese players from fixing a match against Myanmar during the SEA Games last month.

Last week, police arrested star striker Pham Van Quyen and midfielder Le Quoc Vuong for helping fix the game in which Vietnam defeated Myanmar, 1-0. The two reportedly received tens of thousands of dollars from a local betting ring for agreeing to ensure that their team won by only one goal.

Quyen and Vuong both admitted their involvement to police and asked for forgiveness from their fans. The two have been suspended from playing and if convicted, could face a lifetime ban from the sport.

Five of their teammates have also been questioned and suspended pending a police investigation.

Vietnam went on to defeat Malaysia, 2-1, in the semifinals but lost to regional powerhouse Thailand, 3-0, in the final.

The federation president said his deputy "must be held accountable" for what happened during the SEA Games, at which Tho served as deputy head of Vietnam’s sports delegation.

Local media have reported that Tho was informed of the plan by some players to fix the match, but failed to stop them.

Tho reportedly told the VFF leadership that he found out about the plan just two minutes before the match, too late for him to do anything, according to Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

Tho also said he had been told by the Public Security Ministry official assigned to the team to keep the plan secret from head coach Alfred Riedl, the paper reported.

The SEA Games scandal is only the latest, though perhaps worst, embarrassment to befall the country’s corruption-plagued sport.

Nearly two dozen referees, coaches and sports officials are facing criminal charges for various match-fixing incidents in the past year. (AP)