ZIMBABWE has delayed taking action against players who have confessed to receiving money to lose games on a 2009 trip of South East Asia because its match-fixing probe has been widened to include other tours.

That means the guilty players could possibly take the field in the African Nations Cup qualifier against Mali later this month.

A Zimbabwe Football Association inquiry found several players and officials guilty of fixing games on a tour in which Zimbabwe lost 3-0 to Thailand and 6-0 to Syria.

Method Mwanjali, the captain on the tour, said players were paid for losing "correctly" to Syria in Malaysia after failing to lose by the instructed 1-0 scoreline to host Thailand.

Commenting on the inquiry's report last month, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke said "if someone has confessed, then this person should not be playing anymore."

ZIFA vice-president Ndumiso Gumede, who led the inquiry, said sanctions had yet to be imposed because the investigation was now looking at the squad's previous trips to play invitational tournaments from 2007 onward.

"We have since told FIFA that we can't do anything until the due process is complete," Gumede told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We can only complete the investigations until I've rounded up everyone who travelled to Malaysia, China, Syria, Thailand, Bahrain and all these other countries since 2007.

"As soon the report is complete, everyone will be furnished with it and action taken by the relevant authorities."

Last December, Zimbabwe Sports Minister David Coltart called for action, saying the report "must initiate police investigation right now" as these are "very, very serious allegations."

The only notable casualty of the scandal so far is Henrietta Rushwaya, who was fired as FA chief executive.

That is despite Mwanjali detailing how much money the players received when he fronted the inquiry.

"We were handsomely paid $1,000 for losing," he said. "The money was paid at the airport as we were about to go home."

Players were also allegedly asked to fix games in 2008 when Zimbabwe lost 3-2 to Oman and 5-2 to Bahrain.