When will Vietnamese players be afraid of thinking about match-fixing?

match fixing - Photo 1.

Nguyen Quang Huy (left) of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club in the 2023-2024 First Division - Photo: VPF

On May 9, the People's Court of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province sentenced 6 players of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club for gambling and organizing gambling.

Accordingly, Le Bang Gia Huy (23 years old), Nguyen Son Hai (31 years old) and Pham Van Phong (21 years old) were each sentenced to 8 years in prison. Nguyen Quang Huy (21 years old) was sentenced to 7 years in prison, Nguyen Khanh Duy (22 years old) was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Tran Ky Anh (21 years old) was sentenced to 3 years in prison but given a suspended sentence.

All six players participated in betting and match-fixing to gain illegal profits during their time playing in the First Division and National Cup 2023-2024.

Prison sentences from gambling still do not scare players

In 2016, the People's Court of Dong Nai province sentenced 6 Dong Nai Club players for gambling and organizing gambling.

Among them, Pham Huu Phat (former captain of Dong Nai Club) was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Players Nguyen Thanh Long Giang, Nguyen Duc Thien, Ha Niem Tien were all sentenced to 2 years in prison. Dinh Kien Trung was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months but given a suspended sentence...

This group of players participated in betting and match fixing in the match against the host Than Quang Ninh in round 21 of V-League 2014. That harsh sentence was thought to scare the players if they intended to get involved. But in reality, it did not...

In 2019, 11 young Dong Thap players continued to participate in gambling and were involved in negative activities in the qualifying round of the 2019 National U21 Tournament. As a result, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the World Football Federation (FIFA) issued a series of penalties of 6-month and 5-year bans.

Most recently, the incident of 6 Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club players being discovered in the 2023-2024 season surprised everyone.

Not to mention Phu Tho Club was disciplined by FIFA in early May and was relegated from the 2025 Second Division for its involvement in match-fixing in the 2023-2024 First Division.

match fixing - Photo 2.

Phu Tho Club (left) in the 2023-2024 First Division - Photo: VPF

Don't expect players to be self-disciplined.

It is clear that fighting negativity is difficult to expect players to voluntarily stay away from negativity. Especially young players. That is because clubs have regulations as well as talks with players about staying away from betting and match-fixing.

But with many incidents happening like now, it shows that we cannot rely on the players' self-awareness, but need many strict sentences to help players change their awareness.

How much money do Ba Ria - Vung Tau players receive from betting and match-fixing?

According to the indictment, the players received from 4.6 million VND/person to 13 million VND/person in winning bets on the match against SHB Da Nang in the 2023-2024 First Division.

In the match against Dong Nai in the 2023-2024 National Cup, each player received 24 million VND after fixing the match according to the signal given by the "partner" from the stands.

That amount of money is not too big for the players to have to trade their careers, when most of the players of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club are still young and have a bright future ahead. But they still got involved.

Be tough on negativity

In fact, Vietnamese football could limit these unfortunate incidents if managers were more strict in handling negative situations.

For example, the case of 11 young players of Dong Thap Club involved in corruption. Although the players' reports were related to the Second Division, VFF only handled the case in the qualifying round of the 2019 National U21 Tournament. The case was also not forwarded to the investigation agency.

If the VFF and the authorities had been more strict with the young players of Dong Thap, the players who wanted to get involved would have had another example to look at and shake their hands after the sentence given to the 6 Dong Nai players involved in corruption just a few years ago.

Over the years, the VFF Disciplinary Board has only stopped at issuing a series of penalties to teams and individuals for their performance below their ability in matches with questionable scores in the qualifying rounds of the 2019, 2024-2025 National U19 Championship and the 2024 Second Division Championship.

And that seems to be the condition for negativity to continue to arise. It is worth mentioning that the "octopus tentacle" of betting is not only easy to manipulate in youth tournaments or low-level tournaments, which receive little attention from audiences and the media.

The first division, one of two professional leagues in Vietnamese football besides the top league V-League, also has betting and match-fixing issues.

It's not just Ba Ria - Vung Tau Club as seen, but also Phu Tho Club through FIFA's recent penalty.

If the Phu Tho Club case is transferred to the investigation agency, it will be a positive thing for Vietnamese football in fighting against gambling and match-fixing which are showing signs of returning.