Chinese police have announced the arrest of up to 16 former players, along with club and league officials, as part of a probe into match fixing in the country’s professional soccer league.
News of the arrests, announced by the Ministry of Public Security, was a top story in newspapers and Web sites yesterday, with reports focusing on how money was exchanged to fix the outcome of games.
News of the detainments come amid increased scrutiny over the sorry state of the sport in China, including extraordinary statements of concern from officials as high-ranking as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平).
In one instance in August 2006, Yang Xu (楊旭), general manager of second-tier team Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, was accused of handing 200,000 yuan (US$30,000) to his counterpart at rival club Shanxi Wellsend, Wang Po (王珀), to ensure a win for Guangzhou. Shanxi players were instructed to lose by a wide margin. The game ended in a 5-1 win for Guangzhou.
The reports said Wang Po and another manager, Wang Xin (王鑫), allegedly bet on the game with an overseas soccer gambling Web site. But their alleged winnings of just 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) suggest Wang Po was acting on behalf of a larger syndicate that had put up the money for the original bribe.
The reports said the investigation was aided by the arrest of Wang Xin in the northeastern province of Liaoning in April after he fled Singapore amid an investigation into match fixing in the southeast Asian city state.
The Singapore probe turned up evidence of match fixing in the Chinese league, helping investigators tie Wang Xin to others involved in the corruption.
Only four of those detained were named in the reports: Wang Xin, Wang Po, Yang Xu and Ding Zhe (丁哲), a former coach in the Chinese league.
They were held on the charge of “suspicion of employing commercial bribery to manipulate the outcome of soccer matches,” the reports said.
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