What’s new: Two senior officials of the Chinese Football Association, the governing body for the country’s professional soccer league, were placed under investigation by the top anti-graft agency as Beijing continues a drive to stamp out corruption that has bedeviled Chinese football.
Chen Yongliang, executive deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), and Liu Yi, the CFA’s former secretary-general, are under investigation for a suspected severe violation of the law, according to an official statement posted Thursday on the website of the anti-corruption body in central China’s Hubei province.
The probe came after an investigation in November into Li Tie, the former national men’s soccer coach and former Premier League player. A month later, Zhang Lu, the goalkeeper for the Shenzhen club of the Chinese Super League and a former teammate of Li, was taken away by Hubei anti-graft authorities. Caixin learned that several players and coaches with close ties to Li have come under investigation.
The background: China’s soccer industry has long been criticized by fans for the abysmal playing record of the men’s national team, lavish salaries paid players and scandals involving soccer stars. The Chinese national team failed to qualify for the fifth time in the latest FIFA World Cup games in Qatar.
The CFA recently slapped stern penalties including lifetime bans on high-ranking individuals from the country’s biggest soccer training school after finding improprieties in a controversial match.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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