The Vietnam Football Federation, representatives from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on April 20 voiced their strong support for combating corruption in sport.

Those in attendance at the event included Datuk Dell Akbar Khan bin Hyder Khan from FIFA, Hassan Haider Khan and Steven Tae Hyung Kim from the AFC, and senior officials from the VFF and the Vietnam Professional Football Company (VPF).

VFF Secretary General Le Hoai Anh

affirmed that AFC and FIFA have pledged to help Vietnam effectively cope with a recent scandal relating to an alleged match fixing of Vissai Ninh Binh club against Malaysia’s Kelantan FC in Group G of AFC Cup 2014.

Hoai Anh made it clear that FIFA and AFC highly value Vietnam’s efforts in ensuring transparency in the football sector, adding that “It is unlikely that Vietnam will face sanctions or any limits on its participation in Asian tournaments”.

On behalf of FIFA and AFC, Hyder Khan praised the sportsmanship of Vietnamese footballers. “After receiving the information pertaining to the match fixing incident, we assembled here to hear a full report by VFF,” he added.

Hyder Khan elaborated that these types of scandals have occurred in many countries throughout the world, and are not unique to Vietnam. “However, this is a serious problem which previously occurred in Vietnam in 2005, and accordingly, we are paying due attention to this reoccurrence” he noted.

Hyder Khan said FIFA and AFC officials will work with local investigation agencies before making any final decisions about the incident.

According to VOV