BEIJING, Sept 10 (Askume) – In an effort to crack down on corruption in one of China’s most popular sports, the Chinese Football Association has launched a two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling and has questioned 38 football players and five clubs. The officials were banned for life.
The investigation found 120 matches had been rigged, involving 41 football clubs, Zhang Xiaopeng, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Security, told a press conference in Dalian, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The report did not reveal whether all the games would take place in China.
Three former Chinese internationals Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, Gu Chao and South Korean player Sun Junhao were banned for life, according to the findings announced at a press conference held by the Ministry of Sports and the State Sports General Administration on Tuesday. The press conference was also attended by the president of the Chinese Football Association.
Neither player has made any public comment. Son was released in March after being detained in China for 10 months and returned to South Korea.
Zhang said 44 people were criminally punished for taking bribes, gambling, illegally opening casinos and other offenses, while another 17 were criminally punished for allegedly taking bribes and fixing games.
Song Kai, president of the Chinese Football Association, said that 43 of the 44 people were banned from engaging in football-related activities for life, and the other 17 were banned from engaging in football-related activities for five years.
The findings were announced ahead of a World Cup qualifier in Dalian on Tuesday, where China will face Saudi Arabia after losing 7-0 to Japan last week.
The sport has long struggled with corruption, which fans blame for the poor performances of the men’s national team.
In turn, China has stepped up its crackdown on football-related corruption.
In August, the former vice president of the National Football Association was sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes, and the former director of the Competition Department was also sentenced to 7 years in prison for taking bribes.
The former CFA president was sentenced to life imprisonment in March.
