The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has imposed lifetime bans on 38 soccer players and five club officials following a comprehensive two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling, marking a significant step in addressing corruption in Chinese football.
The probe, revealed at a press conference in Dalian and reported by Xinhua News Agency, uncovered that 120 matches had been fixed, involving 41 football clubs. Zhang Xiaopeng, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Security, provided these details.
Among those banned for life are former Chinese internationals Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, and Gu Chao, as well as South Korean player Son Jun-ho. The findings were disclosed on Tuesday by the ministry and the General Administration of Sport of China, with CFA President Song Kai in attendance.
The report did not specify whether all the fixed matches occurred within China. Son Jun-ho, who was detained in China for ten months before being released in March, has returned to South Korea and has not made any public statements regarding the ban.
Zhang also reported that 44 individuals face criminal charges related to bribery, gambling, and illegal casino operations, with 17 others implicated in bribery and match-fixing activities. Of these, 43 have received lifetime bans from football-related activities, while 17 others have been banned for five years.
The announcement coincides with a World Cup qualifier in Dalian, where Team China is set to face Saudi Arabia following a heavy 7-0 defeat to Japan last week. The sport’s ongoing corruption issues have been a point of contention among fans, who attribute the men’s national team’s underperformance to such corruption.
China has intensified its efforts against football-related corruption, as evidenced by recent sentences handed down to high-ranking officials. In August, a former vice president of the National Football Association was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes, and a former director of the competition department received a seven-year sentence for similar offences.