HANOI, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The Vietnam Football Confederation (VFC) announced here Wednesday that six players had been banned fortheir alleged match-fixing behavior, including an international squad member, from playing in the professional V-League for up to three years.

    The federation said it was continuing to investigate the activities of the five suspended players from Pjico Song Lam Nghe An FC and one from Danang FC. "Their suspensions began yesterday," a VFC official said.

    In a statement, the VFC said the players had violated club regulations and had deliberately performed badly during matches and in training, with some "even showing signs of fixing results in matches in the V-league".

    Danang's Nguyen Phi Hung was given the longest suspension of three years, while the five others were banned for between four and 18 months. Pjico Song Lam Nghe An goalkeeper Duong Hong Son, who was handed a four-month suspension, was also dropped from Vietnam's international squad. In addition, Pham Van Quyen, the national team's top striker, was given a reprimand for underperforming while playing for the club, which has had a disappointing past two seasons, but he was not suspended.

    These latest suspensions are likely to cast a further pall overprofessional football in Vietnam and the scandal-ridden V-League, which has been plagued by match fixing since its debut 2000/01 season. Enditem