Chinese Football Association Bans 38 Players, 5 Officials in Match-Fixing Scandal
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has handed lifetime bans to 38 football players and five club executives implicated in a wide-ranging match-fixing and gambling scandal. The decision comes after an extensive two-year investigation, which uncovered evidence of match-fixing in 120 games.
According to Zhang Xiaopeng of the Chinese Ministry for Public Security, the investigation uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing, and bribery cases involving 128 suspects and 41 clubs.
Zhang stated, “The probe exposed a wide network of illegal gambling and corruption within Chinese football, and we are determined to root out these harmful practices.”
Among those banned are Chinese football stars including midfielder Jin Jingdao, forward Guo Tianyu, and goalkeeper Gu Chao. Additionally, 17 other individuals received five-year bans from participating in any football-related activities for life.
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South Korean midfielder Son Jun-Ho, who was also implicated in the scandal, tearfully denied the charges during a press conference. The player claimed that he was coerced into admitting to the charges under threats of arrest against his wife.
“They threatened that if I didn’t admit to the charges, my wife would be arrested,” he said. “I said I hadn’t done anything like that.”
China’s Crackdown on Sports Corruption
These recent actions are part of Beijing’s broader initiative to tackle corruption in sports. Recently, authorities sentenced several high-ranking CFA officials to lengthy prison terms for their involvement in bribery and embezzlement schemes.
In March, authorities sentenced former CFA chairman Chen Xuyuan to life in prison after convicting him of accepting bribes totalling MOP88 million (£8.4 million/€9.98 million/$11 million).
Additionally, former CFA vice-president Wang Dengfeng got a 17-year prison term for embezzlement and bribery. Another former vice president, Li Yuyi, received an 11-year sentence in August for accepting bribes.
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The scandal has further tarnished the reputation of Chinese football, which has struggled to achieve international success despite significant investments and President Xi Jinping’s long-held ambition of elevating the sport.
The men’s national team are currently ranked 87th in the FIFA world rankings, just behind Curaçao (population: 150,000) and ahead of Equatorial Guinea (population: 1.7 million). In contrast, China’s population stands at around 1.4 billion.
China has only qualified for the World Cup once in 2002. They lost all three group matches without scoring a single goal. The country has also endured numerous humiliating defeats, such as a 7-0 loss to Japan in September’s World Cup qualifiers.
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