KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia): Four Laos soccer internationals have been provisionally suspended for 60 days for suspected match-fixing, the Asian Football Confederation(AFC) said on Monday.
Saynakhonevieng Phommapanya, Chintana Souksavath, Moukda Souksavath and Phatthana Syvilay played in Lao’s first match of the AFC Solidarity Cup in Malaysia on Thursday, a 2-1 win over Sri Lanka.
They were banned as their “ongoing participation provided a direct threat to the integrity of the competition,” the AFC said.
The governing body for Asian soccer said their ban was not only related to the Solidarity Cup but also to “suspected manipulation of multiple matches committed by the representative teams of Laos since 2010.”
The investigation, in conjunction with the FIFA Integrity Unit and sports data provider Sportradar, was ongoing and not limited to the four players, the AFC added.