Malaysia is probing three teams in the country’s top football league for match-fixing, a senior official said Tuesday, following a scandal that saw 18 youth league players suspended.

“Three M-League teams are being investigated for match-fixing. I am determined to root out this scourge,” said Azudin Saad, secretary-general of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

He declined to provide details as the investigation was under way, but said at least one player was threatened by a bookie with physical harm unless he helped to throw a match.

“Those individuals who indulge in corruption have no principles in life. They do not have any spirit of sportsmanship,” he said.

The new probe comes after FAM, the governing body of Malaysian football, last week suspended 18 youth players and banned a coach for life for fixing matches.

The players from three clubs were suspended for between two and five years for fixing matches in the national under-20 President’s Cup last year.

Football is the most popular sport in Malaysia, which in the 1970s had one of Asia’s best teams, but the national squad has seen a period of decline amid a series of recent match-fixing incidents.

Malaysian football has struggled to recover from a 1994 scandal that saw 21 players and coaches sacked, 58 players suspended and 126 players questioned over corruption.