Police yesterday arrived at the headquarters of Dong Tam Long An football club to handle a case in which two players of the club informed they had been offered money for match-fixing but turned down the suggestion.

Dong Tam FC accuse Tay Ninh of fixing match

PA83 police have acquired a recorded tape of a conversation between player Nguyen Thanh Trung of Saigon Xuan Thanh and two DLTA footballers Nhat Tan and Thanh Hai on May 12, prior to the match between DTLA and Cement Fico Tay Ninh at the 17th round of the First Division.

Trung allegedly cajoled the two players to fix the match to receive VND100 million (US$4,800) each from the Tay Ninh side.

PA83 police are scheduled to work with Tan and Hai today. DLTA is based in the southern province of Long An.

DTLA’s managing director Vo Thanh Nhiem said the club is considering rewarding the two players for reporting the case to their superiors in time.

“We hope the recorded tape will be an important piece of proof for the investigation to detect the real persons who called our players,” he said.

Many local reporters have called Trung in regard to the aforementioned phone call. Trung admitted to having mentioned match-fixing during the conversation with Hai and Tan, but claimed it was “only a joke.”

This excuse does not please Nhiem.

“It couldn’t have been a joke as Trung did not have the phone number of Tan and Hai, and had to ask for it from another player at Saigon FC.

Moreover, the first sentence Trung spoke to Hai is ‘is there anyone in the room?’, so it cannot be a joke,” said Nhiem.

Tuoitre