September 10 – China’s purge of football-related corruption has reached unprecedented levels after the country banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing, bribery and other forms of wrongdoing.
With the national team still performing woefully on the pitch details have been released of a “two-year investigation that uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery cases.”
The state-run news agency Xinhua said 120 matches in domestic leagues, 128 criminal suspects and 41 clubs were implicated in the investigation. Of those banned, 38 were players and five were officials working for various clubs.
In recent weeks, China has kicked out a series of high-level individuals but the latest mass move marks a new level in the crackdown on corruption.
It was not clear whether all the matches concerned took place in China but three former Chinese internationals Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu and Gu Chao and South Korean player Son Jun-ho, who played for Shandong Taishan FC, were among those banned for life, according to findings made public at a press conference at which the CFA president Song Kai was present.
Son’s activities “seriously violated sports ethics and sportsmanship, causing a significant negative impact on society,” according to a federation statement.
Son was released in March after being detained for 10 months in China and returned to South Korea.
Song Kai said as well as the 43 banned for life, 17 others received five-year bans including foreign players lured to China by the promise of high salaries.
The findings were announced ahead of a World Cup qualifier in Dalian where China were hosting Saudi Arabia after last week’s 7-0 mauling away to Japan in the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to make China a football superpower but there is no evidence of that whatsoever. Even with a larger Asian field for the expanded 48-team World Cup finals, China, which has only ever qualified once and is 87th in FIFA’s rankings, still might not make it past the continental qualifying stage.
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