Laos international Soukphachan Lueanthala held after federation refers alleged 2026 Asean Championship match‑fixing to police
A Laos international, Soukphachan Lueanthala, has been arrested in connection with alleged match‑fixing during the 2026 Asean Championship after the Lao Football Federation (LFF) referred suspected bribery, illegal gambling and match manipulation to the police, the Guardian has established. The arrest has not been officially confirmed by the LFF or Lao police.
Lueanthala, a winger who played for Laos at the tournament and represents Salavan United domestically, is accused of helping to organise an operation on behalf of a betting syndicate believed to be from Vietnam. The LFF said on 7 August that it had opened an investigation before referring the matter to police. According to sources close to the Laos team, several squad members were questioned by police after returning from their final group match.
Sources close to the team told the Guardian the questioning took place after Laos’s last group game, away to Myanmar at the start of August, and that Lueanthala was arrested following those inquiries. The match against Myanmar finished 7-2 in Myanmar’s favour. Those accounts have not been corroborated by an official statement from Lao authorities.
Laos endured a string of heavy defeats in the group stage, losing 5-0 to Thailand, 4-0 to Malaysia and 4-1 to the Philippines, in addition to the 7-2 loss to Myanmar. The country’s results in this edition contrasted with their showing two years earlier, when they scored seven and conceded 11 in four games and recorded draws against Indonesia and the Philippines, teams the Guardian noted sit far higher in the Fifa rankings.
A source familiar with the allegations, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian Lueanthala was suspected of issuing instructions to other squad members and acting as a link between those involved. The Guardian contacted the Asian Football Confederation for comment about the allegations and whether it was assisting Lao authorities; the AFC did not respond. The LFF also did not reply to requests for comment.
The case follows a prior match‑fixing scandal in Laos: in 2020 the AFC imposed a life ban on Thipphonexay Inthavongsa after finding him guilty of conspiring to manipulate the result of a 2017 international against Hong Kong. A source with extensive experience inside Lao football alleged to the Guardian that match‑fixing has been a long‑running problem involving players and potentially officials and said players are particularly vulnerable because of their financial circumstances. “Until last year, they were getting $10 per day when they were joining the national team,” the source said, adding one player allegedly told him he had fixed three matches for “$10,000” each time. “There is such talent,” he said. “They deserve so much better than this.”
The LFF’s 7 August statement that it had referred the matter to police remains the formal next step in the case, and the Guardian has established the player is in custody while the LFF and Lao police have not publicly confirmed the arrest and the AFC did not respond to enquiries.