January 21, 2010
January 21, 2010
Two senior officials of the Chinese Football Association have been detained by police in connection to a match-fixing scandal.
Soccer News ran its report directly on the front page under the matter-of-fact headline “Investigators take in Nan Yong.” Also detained was CFA vice-president Yang Yimin. Nan and Yang were questioned by investigators on January 15 and subsequently taken into custody.
Professional football in China has long been plagued by bribery and corruption, and authorities have been cracking down over the past two months. Late last November, sixteen people, including players, coaches, and officials, were arrested.
And earlier this month, the State Council established a supervisory committee to spearhead the fight against football corruption. Ironically, Yang Yimin was the CFA official who spoke about the committee to the media, as in this Global Times report:
Yang Yimin, vice president of the Chinese Football Association said that under the supervision of the committee, scandals like illegal gambling and “black whistles” where referees are bribed can be avoided.
Also with the involvement of Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the interests of football players can be effectively protected.
A Soccer News sub-head also notes that Jia Xiuquan, the former coach of Shanghai’s Shenhua squad, has “disappeared.” Jia is the most prominent coach to be ensnared in the current anti-corruption campaign.
Details are still a little fuzzy. The Yangtse Evening Post had a slightly different take on the situation in its snazzier front-page layout: Nan Yong and Yang Yimin are both “missing,” while Jia Xiuquan (identified as former coach of the national under-17 team) has been detained by investigators.
Other reports, including an article in the China Daily, add Zhang Jianqiang, an official “formerly in charge of referee arrangements [who] now oversees women’s soccer at the CFA,” to the list of those detained.
- China Daily: China’s soccer chief held in matchfixing probe
- Global Times: China to supervise football to curb scandals
- Christian Science Monitor: Is China finally tackling its soccer corruption scourge?