PETALING JAYA: The issue of match-fixing has reared its ugly head following the arrest of a football team coach from Tampin, who had allegedly paid his players RM80 each to lose a match, The Star reported.

The Seremban magistrates court today approved an application by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to hold the suspect on remand for five days after his arrest yesterday.

The 40-year-old suspect, who is the chief coach of the lower-league football team, was represented by a lawyer from the National Legal Aid Foundation.

According to the facts of the case, the suspect had allegedly given the cash to his 18 players to lose a match to Kuala Pilah TGI in November last year.

He is also alleged to have given RM100 each to seven officials from his team, the daily reported.

Both teams compete in the Liga Bolasepak Rakyat south zone. The league is the fourth tier in Malaysia, and is an amateur-level competition managed by Liga Bolasepak Rakyat-Limited Liability Partnership (LBR-LLP). It was established in 2015 to provide an alternative entry point for young footballing talents.

According to The Star, the MACC started the probe after an individual who suspected that the match may have been fixed lodged a report over the incident.