Vietnam to examine suspected soccer matches
HANOI - Vietnam will set up a council for soccer match assessment amid recent match-fixing cases which involved several referees, a managing director and football teams.
The council, which will consist of 12 or 18 members, including soccer experts, members of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Standing Committee, sports reporters and representatives of fan clubs, is to examine games suspected for being rigged, the federation told Xinhua Monday.
The council is to make comments on the games after probing into reports of referees, supervisors and concerned people, as well as media, the VFF said, noting that the council's decision, base for the federation to decide punishment, will count when getting approval from at least two-third of its members by secret voting.
Under the scheme on the council's establishment, already submitted to Vietnam's Sports and Physical Culture Committee and the VFF for approval, players or teams involving in match fixing can be fined up to 300 million Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 19,000 US dollars), suspended for competition or forced to compete in lower ranking tournaments.
Late last month, Vietnamese police detained a 37-year-old referee and a 41-year-old managing director of a soccer club for taking and giving bribes, respectively. The referee and his three assistants received 20 million VND (1,265 dollars) from the Dong A-Pomina Steel Soccer Club to fix a national first-division cup in early April in its favor.
After their arrests, the VFF encouraged other people involving in match-rigging to surrender to the police. As a result, a total of eight referees and a number of clubs have voluntarily made reports about their wrongdoing to investigators so far.
XinhuaNet - September 12, 2005.
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