Myanmar football team gets S$68,000 bonus for beating S'pore in SEA Games match

Singapore players offered S$2,000 each for victory.

Belmont Lay | August 16, 2017, 03:08 PM

Facebook page Thai Futbol posted a photo of the Myanmar Under-22 football team receiving a brown envelope supposedly containing US$30,000 inside.

This was following the convincing victory the Burmese secured in their 2-0 defeat of Singapore on Monday in the SEA Games opener in Kuala Lumpur.

Myanmar's Aung Thu scored two goals to bury Singapore in a group that also comprises hosts Malaysia, Laos and Brunei.

Money sponsors

According to The New Paper, the money came from a few sources.

Myanmar Football Federation president U Zaw Zaw and former Yangon United chairman U Tay Za contributed US$10,000 each. KBZ Bank also chipped in.

Apparently, such monetary rewards are not uncommon in Asean football.

The Myanmar team is targeting to reach the semi-finals.

Singapore players offered S$2,000 each

On the other hand, Singapore Under-22 players were reportedly offered S$2,000 each for victory over Myanmar.

For tonight's do-or-die game against Malaysia, the monetary rewards have been raised for the Singapore players.

The Singapore team needs at least a point to smell semi-final qualification.

Our Asean neighbours might gang up to make sure that doesn't come to pass.

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Proof that money and sports mix well

Whoever said money and sports do not mix well need to just look at the S.League, which is quite broke.

Singapore's only fledgling professional league has been marked by poor attendance, inconsistent form and failure to properly finance the day-to-day operations of clubs.

In a supposedly national sport where money talks, Singapore's economic prowess and superior resource allocation skills have come up to naught as not enough money is used to breed world-class competitiveness.

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