Two Vietnamese footballers arrested for gambling

Police in Ninh Binh Province recently arrested two footballers from the provincial football club for betting on the results of a recent football match.

Those arrested were half-back Tran Manh Dung and goalkeeper Nguyen Manh Dung.

Goalkeeper Nguyen Manh Dung

These two footballers are accused of gambling on the results of a match between Vissai Ninh Binh and Malaysia’s Kelantan during the qualification round of the AFC Cup 2014. They are suspected have been involved in a match fixing scheme. The investigative agency has decided to bring the case to the court.

According to the investigative agency, on March 15, three days before the match, Tran Manh Dung called on goalkeeper Nguyen Manh Dung and fullbacks Le Quang Hung and Le Van Duyet to the Vissai Ninh Binh Hotel to make plans for the bet.

Two days later, at another hotel in Malaysia, Tran Manh Dung continued to call on other members of the team to join as the amount of the combined bet reached VND2 billion (USD94,719). They agreed that debts and profits would be equally divided.

When the round ended on March 18 with the Ninh Binh football cub beating Kelantan at 3-2 the gambling players won a combined VND800 million (USD37,887).

One day later, when the Vietnamese team returned to HCM City, Tran Manh Dung called a man named Loi to ask him to send the winnings to the account of Nguyen Manh Dung’s friend. After receiving the money, Tran Manh Dung divided it to the winners who earned between VND75 million and VND85 million (USD3,551-USD4,025) each.

“Three footballers including Nguyen Manh Dung, Tran Manh Dung and Le Quang Hung were the instigators,” said a sponsor of the club.

However the goalkeeper, Nguyen Manh Dung, rejected the accusation that he was the mastermind.

“I think they are trying to shift the blame onto me. They have been meeting and negotiating since April 12,” he commented.

Two Vietnamese footballers arrested for gambling Related image(s)