Police holding three top soccer officials
- Source: Global Times
- [03:19 January 22 2010]
- Comments
CFA head Nan Yong holds the trophy for "Best Football Association," awarded by the Asian Football Confederation on November 28, 2007. Photo: Xinhua
By Kang Juan
The head of the heavily criticized Chinese Football Association (CFA) and two other top officials have been taken in for questioning amid a deepening probe into fraud and gambling in professional soccer games, police confirmed Thursday.
The three officials are the most senior figures under investigation in the nationwide crackdown on match fixing and gambling that was launched four months ago. Insiders, meanwhile, have disclosed that so many people and clubs are involved in the large-scale corruption that the soccer circle might be paralyzed if they are all pulled down.
Nan Yong, who took charge of the CFA one year ago, Yang Yimin, CFA vice president, and Zhang Jianqiang, who was formerly in charge of referee management, were detained by police in order to "clarify some facts in several cases of football gambling and the illegal manipulating of domestic football league games by using business bribery," the Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday, citing Ministry of Public Security officials.
The ministry didn't say if the three officials are involved in the cases or just cooperating with the investigation. Reporters were not allowed to enter the office building of the CFA Thursday, and the mobile phone of its spokesperson rang unanswered.
Titan Sports, a Chinese newspaper, reported Wednesday that Nan and Yang didn't show up at the CFA this week after holding a meeting there one week ago. The other two vice presidents are doing their jobs.
Nan Yong told China Central Television last month, after the arrest of Xu Hongtao, a club man-ager in Chengdu and an official in the CFA, that the crackdown on soccer gambling and fraud has only just begun.
"The CFA will voluntarily cooperate with police and provide the necessary materials," Nan said. "There is no hope for Chinese soccer if this cancer is not cut out."
Match fixing and corruption have plagued Chinese soccer for many years, leading to dwindling attendance and frustration among fans and sponsors. Chants of "black whistle" or "fake match" can frequently be heard from the terraces when players obviously concede points to an opposing team or a referee makes a dubious call.
Ren Jie, the first Chinese citizen to set up an anti-soccer-gambling association, said that he didn't have too much hope in the campaign in the beginning, but he said the latest move shows a strong determination by the government.
"The CFA officials' involvement in the corruption, if any, is only part of the whole picture, and they may not be key figures," he said, adding that the protective umbrella in match fixing could involve organized gangs and officials from different administrative departments.
At least 21 officials, players and club managers have been arrested or detained in the crackdown since March, when a high-profile committee was set up by 12 ministry-level organs to clean Chinese soccer of corruption.
Ren said the three officials under investigation would probably give information to back up the re-investigation of previous cases, and he had provided some evidence to the police to show match fixing among some clubs.
In other developments, Jia Xiuquan, a former head coach of Chinese Super League (CSL) club Shanghai Shenhua, was also held for questioning by police, and a local court has sentenced former Liaoning player Lu Dong to three years in jail for gambling, the Beijing News reported Thursday.
