A Laos international has been arrested in connection with allegations of match-fixing during the 2026 Asean Championship, after the country’s football federation referred suspected bribery, illegal gambling and match manipulation to the authorities.
Soukphachan Lueanthala, a winger who featured for Laos at the tournament and plays in his homeland for Salavan United, is understood to have been accused of helping to organise the alleged operation on behalf of a betting syndicate believed to be from Vietnam.
Sources close to the Laos team say he was detained after several squad members were questioned by police following their return from the side’s final match of the group stage, away to Myanmar, at the start of August. The arrest has not been confirmed by the Lao Football Federation or by Lao police, although it is understood the player is in custody.
That game against Myanmar ended in a 7-2 defeat, following three other heavy losses for Laos in the group stage: 5-0 to Thailand, 4-0 to Malaysia and 4-1 to the Philippines.
The LFF confirmed in a statement on 7 August that it had opened an investigation before referring the case to police. According to a source familiar with the allegations, who did not want to be named, Lueanthala was suspected of giving instructions to other squad members and acting as a link between those involved.
Laos, managed by the Serb Vladica Grujic, failed to match the results they achieved two years earlier, when they scored seven goals and conceded 11 across four games and pulled off surprise draws against Indonesia and the Philippines, both of whom sit far higher in the Fifa rankings.
The case arrives against a background of previous match-fixing scandals involving Laos. In 2020 the Asian Football Confederation imposed a life ban on Thipphonexay Inthavongsa after finding him guilty of conspiring to manipulate the result of a 2017 international against Hong Kong. The AFC was contacted for comment about the latest allegations and whether it was assisting the Lao authorities, but did not respond. Neither did the LFF.
A source with extensive experience inside Lao football alleged that match-fixing has been a long-running problem involving players and potentially officials, with players particularly vulnerable because of their financial circumstances. Until last year, the source said, players were receiving $10 per day when they joined up with the national team. One player allegedly told him he had fixed three matches for $10,000 each time. The source claimed that suspected fixing has damaged Lao football more broadly, with experienced players disappearing from the national team and younger players taking their places. “There is such talent,” he said. “They deserve so much better than this.”