HANOI, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Seven Vietnamese national soccer players and a former player received imprisonment and suspension sentences of two to six years for fixing an international match, a local court passed the verdict on Friday afternoon.

    ;The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court imposed a six-year imprisonment sentence on Le Quoc Vuong, a member of Vietnam's national U-23 soccer team, on the charges of gambling and organizing gambling.

    A three-year imprisonment sentence was imposed on Truong Tan Hai, former national soccer player, on the charge of gambling, and six other members of the team were sentenced to suspension sentences of 2 and 2.5 years, according to a court source.

    The six players, including striker Pham Van Quyen, Vietnam's 2003 Golden Ball winner, were sentenced on the charge of gambling.

    Midfielder Le Quoc Vuong wooed his teammates to rig the qualification match against Myanmar at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in the Philippines in November 2005. Their poor performance on purpose resulted in a 1-0 victory in favor of Vietnam as expected by local bookmakers.

    The eight men fixed the match to receive money from the bookmakers and win bets on the match with total amounts of 490 million Vietnamese dong (30,600 U.S. dollars), the court said.

    Like other kinds of gambling, except for casinos designated for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, soccer betting is illegal in Vietnam. Dozens of local bettors and bookmakers are detained during major national and international soccer tournaments.