$10 a Day for National Team Duty, $10,000 per Fixed Match — Laos Faces Match-Fixing Scandal

^{Soukphachan Lueanthala, Laos international footballer}

Laos international Soukphachan Lueanthala has reportedly been arrested on suspicion of helping organize match-fixing schemes to profit from sports betting. The Guardian reported the arrest on October 8, citing its own sources. However, neither Lao police nor the country’s football federation has officially confirmed the arrest.

The case relates to the 2026 ASEAN Championship, held over the summer. Laos lost all four group-stage matches, suffering defeats against Thailand (0–5), Malaysia (0–4), the Philippines (1–4), and Myanmar (2–7).

Following the team’s final match, police questioned several players. On August 7, the Lao Football Federation announced that it had launched an investigation into suspected match-fixing and referred the case to law enforcement authorities.

According to a source familiar with the allegations, Lueanthala is suspected of acting as an intermediary between players and a betting syndicate believed to be linked to Vietnam. He allegedly passed instructions to teammates on how to manipulate matches.

Low pay may have made Lao footballers particularly vulnerable to match-fixing approaches.

According to the newspaper’s source, until last year, players received just $10 a day while on international duty.

The source also claimed that one footballer had told him he had fixed three matches, earning $10,000 for each one.