A total of 32 players and coaches have been suspended from the Vietnam Championship Series of the video game League of Legends after allegations of match-fixing surfaced. The allegations came to light back in March and saw the competition put on hold while an investigation took place.
Professional sports leagues in Vietnam have struggled to develop on the back of limited investment and low pay for sports players that has resulted in players developing side hustles like match-fixing. More prominently, the Vietnamese Premier League was voted the third most corrupt league in the world back in 2016, but not much has been done to clean up Vietnamese soccer since–As recently as February, five players were charged for match fixing.
This speaks to the proliferation of corruption in Vietnam and serves as a reminder just how heavily embedded it can be in Vietnamese society and business more broadly.
See also: Corruption in Vietnam: Cheat Sheet 2024