Match-fixing still harming Malaysian game – minister

Published 11/17/2015, 4:52 AM EST

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The demise of Malaysian soccer can be blamed, in part, on the continuing problems with match-fixing, the country’s Youth and Sports Minister said.

Malaysia has slumped to their worst FIFA ranking of 171st out of 209 and suffered a painful 10-0 record defeat by the United Arab Emirates in World Cup qualifying in September.

Malaysia has been troubled with numerous match-fixing incidents and Khairy Jamaluddin said the problems had yet to disappear fully despite united efforts.

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“Match-fixing has been shackling national football since several years ago,” the minister was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

“But continuous effort is being carried out by the Football Association of Malaysia, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission and the Royal Malaysian Police with the ministry to combat the scourge.

“Although, we cannot eradicate the problem, we have been able to reduce it as is apparent in reports relating to offers to players.”

Malaysia host the UAE later on Tuesday behind closed doors after crowd disorder in a loss to Saudi Arabia in September. They have no chance of qualifying for Russia 2018.

(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.