Seven players and four officials from domestic football champions Phnom Penh Crown have been indefinitely suspended for a wide range of match-fixing offenses, the club announced in a statement released Sunday.
Players Yok Ary, Thourng Da, Sary Matnorotin, Touch Sokheng, Ngoy Srin, Sos Suhana and San Ursaphea, along with officials Nguon Chansothea, Bouy Dary, Soeu Siha and Tes Sophat, persuaded fellow players to underperform over the past two months and attempted to injure foreign teammates, the statement said.
“I am extremely saddened to announce a severe punishment of an indefinite suspension from all club activities for 7 players and 4 officials of Phnom Penh Crown FC,” Rithy Samnang, the club’s president, said in the statement.
“These suspensions are for gross misconduct and a serious breach of their employment contracts by way of match manipulation and the deliberate harming of Phnom Penh Crown FC’s reputation.”
Despite being unbeaten in their first 15 games of the season, the C-League champions have seen a surprise dip in form over the past two months, losing three of their last seven games.
