Vietnam coach sacked over scandal

Vietnam's U23 soccer team are at the centre of bribery claims

An assistant to Vietnam's national football coach has been sacked by his club over a match-fixing scandal.

Le Thuy Hai was dismissed by the Danang club for failing to prevent players in his charge allegedly fixing results.

Four players have already been arrested after an investigation into matches at December's South East Asia Games.

Le Thuy Hai, one of three assistants to national coach Alfred Riedl of Austria, has been heavily criticised in the media over the scandal.

He was sacked for "not having carried out his responsibilities in management and education of players in the Danang club who took part in negative acts", said the popular newspaper Sports Vietnam.

"Mr Hai has seriously hurt the reputation of Danang football club and of the city as a whole among fans and sponsors," it said.

Gambling banned

The allegations are the latest in a series of bribery and gambling scandals to hit Vietnamese football.

Mr Hai 's predecessor, Nguyen Thanh Vinh, was arrested in November over allegations of match-fixing.

The latest scandal revolves around a semi-final match with Burma, which Vietnam won 1-0.

According to state-controlled newspapers, some of the players were paid 20 million dong (US$1,300) by local bookmakers to make sure Vietnam did not win by more than one goal.

The bookmakers were able to offer attractive odds on various bigger winning margins, and profit from a guaranteed result.

Gambling is widespread in Vietnam, despite being banned, and millions of dollars often change hands over football matches.

More than 20 referees, coaches and officials are currently facing charges of match-fixing in the past year.