More Malaysian booters banned for life
More Malaysian booters banned for life
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The football association of Malaysia's northern Kedah state has banned five players for life for match fixing as officials stepped up bids to clean up Malaysian soccer, news reports said yesterday.
Kedah's move followed a similar punishment unprecedentedly meted out on Wednesday by the national Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on six players from eastern Sabah state.
"We are banning the five for life to serve as a deterrent to others and we don't want to have anything to do with people who have betrayed us and the profession, Kedah FA deputy president Ahmad Basri Akil was reported saying by the New Straits Times daily.
Former international Lee Kin Hong along with S. Thanasegar, Lee Thean Ewe, Faridzuan Hamid and Norazam Ishak would also be banned from representing the state in any international tournaments as well, state football officials said.
The five were earlier this year suspended by the FAM after they admitted involvement in match fixing in last year's Malaysia premier league.
They were members of the Kedah state team which won the premier league and Malaysia Cup titles in 1993.
"There is no way we can be lenient with the five because they had confessed to the police that they were involved with bookies. They should pay a heavy price for that," Basri said.
The five players were among 150 Malaysian footballers and officials hauled up by police early this year in a nationwide crackdown on match fixing launched last year.
Fifty-eight others who had admitted involvement in fixing matches last season were banned from playing for up to four years, while another 21 were banished and sent into internal exile and suspended from playing for periods ranging from one to four years.
The Malaysian league turned professional two years ago, and has lost many of its top players in the clampdown following the bribery scandal.