Two more footballers of Vietnam’s top-flight V-League club Vissai Ninh Binh were summoned Wednesday by police for their ongoing investigation into a confession by nine other Ninh Binh players that they won over US$37,000 in betting money from their own game against a Malaysian club last month.

A total of eleven players have been investigated so far while football (soccer) insiders suspect that these also fixed certain matches.

Club chairman Pham Van Le confirmed to Tuoi Tre that striker Pham Van Quyen and midfielder Hoang Danh Ngoc were ordered to cooperate with police yesterday.

Police wanted to question them about the betting confession, Le said, noting that they have yet to arrive at any conclusion regarding the two’s involvement. Club owner Hoang Manh Truong told Tuoi Tre that some players even confessed they and their family gambled on several other matches.

“The investigators will look into all this,” Truong added.

Betting on own game in Asia Cup

Last week, nine Ninh Binh players admitted to police that they bet, via a Vietnamese bookmaker, on their club’s game against Malaysia’s Kelantan FA at the 2014 AFC Cup, an international football competition for clubs organized annually by the Asian Football Confederation, on March 18.

The players also said that they won VND800 million (US$37,700) from the bet on the clash in which their club edged past Kelantan 3-2, while football betting is banned in Vietnam.

The gambling was reported to be solicited by Ninh Binh midfielder Tran Manh Dung, who enticed his teammates to bet on the game. The bet was in the form of Total Goals Over 3, a type of betting which depends on the number of goals scored in total for a match during 90 minutes. In the Total Goals Over 3, bettors will win if more than three goals are scored regardless of which team wins the match. They will lose only if fewer than three goals are scored. With the match’s score being 3-2, the Vietnamese players won the stake and shared the money, with each pocketing from VND75 – 85 million ($3,600 – 4,100).

They allegedly gave VND15 million ($700) to the Vietnamese bookmaker as a commission and VND70 million ($3,300) to two other teammates, who knew about their betting, to silence them.

The nine players include midfielder Tran Manh Dung, goalkeepers Nguyen Manh Dung and Nguyen Van Hung, defenders Le Quang Hung, Le Van Duyet, Pham Xuan Phu, Chu Ngoc Anh and Nguyen Gia Tu, and striker Phan Anh Tuan.

There is some doubt that the players rigged other matches as well.

Vissai Ninh Binh is based in the northern province of Ninh Binh.

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