China has put two dozen former football officials, players, coaches and referees behind bars in an attempt to clean up the game which has been rife with corruption. Two former national soccer chiefs and the disgraced national football team captain each got ten and half a years to enjoy the amenities of the country’s prisons.
China has put two dozen former football officials, players, coaches and referees behind bars in an attempt to clean up the game which has been rife with corruption. Two former national soccer chiefs and the disgraced national football team captain each got ten and half a years to enjoy the amenities of the country’s prisons.
These sentences represent the culmination of a campaign against bribery and match fixing that was launched in 2010. Authorities began the investigation after poor performances by Chinese teams led fans to shift allegiance to the Premier League or Serie A.
The national team has only qualified once for the World Cup while the domestic league has struggled for years through violence on the pitch and corrupton off it. Match fixing had become so widespread that entire squads were throwing games to win bets for themselves and crime syndicates. Millions of dollars changed hands on a single match. The state broadcaster refused to air the Super League.
The severity of the crackdown has helped the Super League to regain and expand its fan base. Companies who turned their back on the league are now clamouring for sponsorships. The league is awash with more cash than ever before, allowing teams to make acquistions of high profile foreign players. Once star players went to the States as their lustre faded, now China may be the place to secure a lucrative end to their careers.