Graft badly hurts SE Asian soccer

Graft badly hurts SE Asian soccer

HANOI (Reuters): Bribery and match-fixing hamper the development of soccer in Southeast Asia, and a farcical game in the recent Tiger Cup championship has further tarnished the sport's image, coaches and officials said.

The region's most popular sport was being held back by unscrupulous bookmakers and players seeking personal gain, they said.

"We already suffer from a lack of credibility in this region partly because of the problems from match-fixing," Singapore's English coach, Barry Whitbread, said before the Tiger Cup final in Hanoi on Saturday night.

"Everyone saw the game between Thailand and Indonesia and that has dragged the region's reputation down even further."

Thailand and Indonesia have been fined $10,000 and $20,000 respectively by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Football Federation after playing a bizarre match in Ho Chi Minh City during the group stages of the Tiger Cup last Monday. Earlier fines of $40,000 each were reduced on appeal.

"If you want to be accepted internationally then the authorities have to take strong action to curb match-fixing in the leagues and stop situations like the Thailand and Indonesia game from occurring again," Whitbread said.

In March, eight Indonesian referees were suspended from the country's domestic league for accepting bribes to influence matches.

Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl, an Austrian, said there were also problems with match-fixing in the communist-ruled country's national league.

"They have some problems here with match-fixing," said Riedl, who has been working in the region for four months.

"It's not as bad as Malaysia was a few years ago but it is still going on and it is ruining the game."

Malaysian soccer was hit in the mid-1990s when dozens of players and officials were implicated in match-fixing scandals.

Chris Momfort, general secretary of the Philippines Football Federation and his country's representative on the executive committee of the ASEAN Football Federation, said the issue was hobbling the game in the region.