HANOI, April 3:A Vietnamese court lias handed down unprecedented Jail sentences of up to a year to four footballers from teams run by police ami customs convicted of matchfix-ing In the national championship two years ago, court officials said Monday, reports AFP.

The Jail sentences, the first ever handed down against footballers In Vietnam despite a rash of allegations of matchrigging in recent years, were delivered by the people's court in the commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, the officials said.

The captain of the city's customs team. Truong Van Dong, was Jailed for 12 months Ing hundreds of thousands uFP 55Urs in bets.

Dinh The Nam. from the police team in the city of Haiphonp+J^o main port for the capital, received 10 months suspended, while sentencing of his team mate Ng Thanh Thang was postponed because he was not in court. Bookmaker Tran Phi Son was Jailed for twelve months.

As in the former eastern Europe. football teams in communist Vietnam are managed by government agencies like the police or army or by provinces.

Despite a rash of stadium violence and matchrigging allegations in recent years, football remains a national passion here and many Vietnamese stay up late into the night to watch games broadcast live from Europe.