19th February, 2013
China’s football association has banned 33 players and officials for life after a three-year probe into match fixing.
Former Didier Drogba’s club, Shanghai Shenhua were also fined 1m yuan ($160,000) and stripped of its 2003 league victory for fixing a match on its way to the title.
In recent years, China has increased efforts to clean up football, which has been hit by a series of scandals. Over the past year, more than 50 officials, referees and players have been jailed. The corruption and rigging has at times been blatant, says the BBC’s John Sudworth in Shanghai. One infamous match ended with a team clearly seen trying to score an own goal, he says.
Shanghai Shenhua were found guilty of offering bribes to officials to secure their 4-1 victory against Shanxi Guoli, Chinese media report.
In addition to the fine, they were given a six-point penalty for the coming season, as were another top-division side, Tianjin Teda, who were also fined 1 million yuan, said China Daily.
In total, 12 clubs have been given financial or points penalties, Xinhua reports.
Among the officials banned for life were two former heads of the football league, Nan Yong and his predecessor Xie Yalong, who are already serving 10-and-a-half years each in jail after being convicted of accepting bribes.
Another 25 players and officials have been given five-year bans.
China’s football authorities hope that by cracking down on corruption cases they will raise standards and attract foreign talent to play in the country, says our correspondent.
But they clearly have some way to go, he adds. Former English premier league players Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka were recently signed to Shanghai Shenhua, but left after just one season.