{"id":2408,"date":"2024-09-10T21:49:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T21:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/?p=2408"},"modified":"2024-09-18T14:17:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T14:17:41","slug":"china-soccer-purges-60-players-officials-in-corruption-and-gambling-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/2024\/09\/10\/china-soccer-purges-60-players-officials-in-corruption-and-gambling-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"China Soccer Purges 60 Players, Officials in Corruption and Gambling Probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s Football Association (soccer) has banned 43 players and officials from the sport for life following a widespread investigation into corruption and match-fixing.<\/p>\n

\"Chinese
Chinese soccer fans voicing their support for the national team ahead of its humiliating 7-0 defeat to Japan last week. Widespread corruption has been blamed for the failure to realize President Xi Jinping\u2019s dream of transforming the country into a soccer superpower. (Image: CNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the group are former Chinese internationals Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, and Gu Chao. Current South Korea international Son Jun-ho, who played in China for Shandong Taishan in the Chinese Super League, is also on the list.<\/p>\n

The sanctions were announced Tuesday at a press briefing in Dalian by the top official from the Ministry of Public Security, Zhang Xiaopeng, and reported by Xinhua<\/em>, the state-owned news agency.<\/p>\n

Draining the Swamp<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Zhang said the bans were the culmination of a two-year investigation that uncovered widespread online gambling, match-fixing, and bribery in Chinese soccer. Some 120 matches were implicated in the investigation, which involved 128 criminal suspects and 41 teams.<\/p>\n

In addition to the 43 life bans, 17 others, including Cameroonian forward Donovan Ewolo, now playing in Saudi Arabia, were banned for five years.<\/p>\n

Son \u2018Bewildered\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Son, 32, was arrested as he attempted to leave China in May 2023. He was detained in the country until March of this year on unspecified bribery charges.<\/p>\n

\n

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) said in a statement that Son had \u201cparticipated in illegal transactions, manipulated football matches, and obtained illegal gains to seek unlawful benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cHis actions seriously violated sports ethics and sportsmanship, causing significant negative social impact,\u201d the CFA said.<\/p>\n

Son\u2019s agent, Park Dae-yeon, told South Korean news agency Yonhap<\/em> Tuesday that he and his client were \u201cbewildered\u201d by the \u201cridiculous\u201d charges.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Corruption has long been endemic in Chinese soccer. Earlier this year, former CFA president Chen Xuyuan was sentenced to life in prison for accepting millions in bribes.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Failed Soccer Project <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping is said to be a big fan of the game and pledged in 2015 to turn China into a soccer superpower that would one day lift the World Cup. But despite pouring billions into the sport, there is nothing to suggest China is the sleeping giant of world soccer.<\/p>\n

If anything, the country\u2019s prospects for achieving soccer glory are getting worse.<\/p>\n

\n

In January, for the first time in 29 years, China lost to Hong Kong, its own Special Administrative Region (SAR). But the most humiliating defeat was a 7-0 hammering last Friday by Japan, one of its biggest sporting and geopolitical rivals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A recent documentary that aired on state television claimed corruption is holding Chinese soccer back and may have spurred authorities to purge the game of undesirable elements.<\/p>\n

Just hours after Tuesday\u2019s sanctions were announced, China was beaten at home by Saudi Arabia. The national team currently sits at the bottom of its World Cup qualifying group.<\/p>\n

The post China Soccer Purges 60 Players, Officials in Corruption and Gambling Probe<\/a> appeared first on Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s Football Association (soccer) has banned 43 players and officials from the sport for life following a widespread investigation into corruption and match-fixing. Chinese soccer fans voicing their support for the national team ahead of its humiliating 7-0 defeat to Japan last week. Widespread corruption has been blamed for the failure to realize President Xi…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}