AFC life ban for Lao goalkeeper for fixing Hong Kong match

AFC life ban for Lao goalkeeper for fixing Hong Kong match

Action from the friendly between Hong Kong and Laos at Mong Kok Stadium on Oct 5, 2017. Three Laos players have been banned for life over the 4-0 loss. (South China Morning Post photo)
Action from the friendly between Hong Kong and Laos at Mong Kok Stadium on Oct 5, 2017. Three Laos players have been banned for life over the 4-0 loss. (South China Morning Post photo)

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has banned Lao national team goalkeeper Thipphonexay Inthavongsa for life following an investigation into match-fixing.

Thipphonexay was found guilty of "conspiring to manipulate the result of an international match between the Hong Kong and Laos national teams on October 5, 2017", the AFC said.

He becomes the third Lao international to be banned in relation to the side's 4-0 loss to Hong Kong at Mong Kok Stadium.

His teammates Khampheng Sayavutthi and Lembo Saysana were banned for life in February.

As with the February bans, the AFC neglected to provide details of the case to protect its investigation but it did say that the Laos FA had been informed and that it would ask Fifa to make the ban worldwide.

The AFC, which renewed its partnership with sporting integrity service provider SportRadar for another four years in January, has handed out several bans following investigations in recent years.

They banned four Central Asian footballers last August - three from Kyrgyzstan and one from Tajikistan - for life, while earlier this year the president of the Myanmar Football Federation said that the AFC was investigating their 7-0 loss to Kyrgyzstan in a Fifa World Cup qualifier in Bishkek last October.

In February 2017, the AFC banned 22 Laos and Cambodian players for life after investigations into matches involving the Laos national team and club side Lao Toyota FC. The club were banned from the 2018 AFC Cup as a result.

In 2015, five Nepal footballers were charged with treason for fixing matches at the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea. The country had no laws against match-fixing and the players were acquitted.

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