Malaysian Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin claims that match-fixing remains a niggling issue as well as a contributing factor to the national football team’s inability to do well on the international scene.
He pointed out that numerous local players are still involved in elements of match-fixing like gambling, extortions as well as bribery, which results in them not performing to the level that they should be performing in.
“Match-fixing has been affecting our football for a very long time and it continues to exist because many players are afraid of revealing the identities of bookies. It’s also hard to detect match-fixing because it’s usually done secretly,” he told Bernama.
“Continuous efforts are being carried to eradicate the issue, especially by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).
“Though we can’t completely eradicate the problem, we’ve been able to reduce it. We’ve always took serious actions to combat match-fixing and it certainly seems to be helping,” he added.
The Malaysian national team will be taking on UAE in their World Cup Qualifying tie later today, though the match will be held behind closed doors, at the Shah Alam Stadium.
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