According to Hanoi police and media, a top V-League manager has been arrested on charges of attempting to bribe a referee. The arrest is part of Vietnam's campaign to cleanse the game of corruption, the Asian Football Confederation commented.East Asia-Povina Steel manager Vu Tien Thanh stands accused of bribing referee Luong Trung Viet and his three assistants to the tune of 20 million dong (nearly US$1,300) to rig a crucial promotion game in April against Huda Hue which was won by East-Asia.
The referee was arrested last week while the role of the three assistant referees is being investigated. The local media is already speculating that the club might be dumped from the V-League.
Thanh took over the club this year and before this was the language assistant to national team coach Austrian Alfred Riedl. The V-League has been hit hard by allegations of corruption and match-fixing since 2000-01.
See also Singapore tackling match-fixing allegations (27 Aug 05)