AFC life ban for Laos goalkeeper for fixing 2017 Hong Kong match
- Goalkeeper played in 4-0 loss at Mong Kok Stadium in 2017 that has also seen two teammates banned from football for life
- Asian Football Confederation has also banned players from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the last 12 months
Inthavongsa 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.
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.
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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.
