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✪ wang wentao, wang yutang

(this article was originally published in fangyuan magazine)

[introduction] this morning, the general administration of sport of china and the ministry of public security jointly held a press conference in dalian on the special rectification of the "fake gambling and black" problem in the professional football league. the meeting reported on illegal and criminal activities such as gambling and match-fixing in the football field, as well as the disciplinary punishment of 61 football practitioners involved in the case, of which 43 were banned from engaging in any football-related activities in my country for life. at 8 pm today, the chinese national football team will face saudi arabia, the opponent in the 2026 world cup asia qualifiers, at home in dalian. in connection with the huge doubts caused by the 0:7 loss to the japanese team in the match on september 5, the chaos in the chinese national football team and even the sports world has once again triggered public opinion. fangyuan magazine, an internal publication under the supervision of the supreme people's procuratorate, once disclosed the shocking truth about the corruption of senior executives in the chinese sports world.

the article points out thatvarious types of corruption and chaos continue to plague china's sports world. on the one hand, some sports officials lead their teams to achieve impressive results in domestic and international competitions. on the other hand, they have authority and "voice" in their respective circles. due to lack of supervision, they hold the power of life and death over athletes and even manipulate competitions, covering up all kinds of corruption under the halo of gold medals.in some of the trump cards' advantage projects, there has long been a "if you are allowed to go, you will win a gold medal; if you are not allowed to go, you will be unknown."the temptation of"; in projects of average level, due to the monopoly and opaque selection mechanism, there is also "it's hard to get selected without spending money”the “unspoken rules”.

this article points out that the list of players for each national football team is full of controversy, and even the website of the central commission for discipline inspection has published articles criticizing the management chaos of chinese football. in recent years, under the cover of the "halo" of good results in some events, a few sports officials have used their influence and power to become manipulators of important game results. in addition, a huge "interest chain" has been formed in event management, and the right to approve events has become a tool for departments to make gray interests. yao ming once proposed to "cancel event approval" at the "two sessions" because the collection and use of event approval fees has become a gray area that cannot be monitored by the outside world, which is likely to breed corruption.

this article was originally published in fangyuan magazine, with the original title "shocking corruption among china's sports high-level officials", and was reprinted from lan xijun.it only represents the author's views and is for readers' reference.

shocking corruption among top chinese sports executives

from the early vice chairman of the chinese football association xie yalong, to the "golden whistle" lu jun who was imprisoned, to the current national synchronized swimming team leader yu li and the deputy director of the state general administration of sport who were prosecuted, although china's sports world has achieved very brilliant results in the past 30 years, various types of corruption and chaos, as well as controversies about sports "capable people" have continued.

in china's sports world, behind many gold medal projects, there is a yu li-like figure.

on the one hand, they led their team members to achieve impressive results in domestic and international competitions., and made an indelible contribution to the development of competitive sports;

on the other hand, they have high authority and "voice" in their respective circles.due to the lack of supervision, they have the power of life and death over athletes and even manipulate competitions, covering up all kinds of corruption under the halo of gold medals.

yu li was the first official to be taken away for investigation after the central inspection team entered the state sports general administration. later, in may 2015, shen lihong, deputy director of the state sports general administration's cycling and fencing management center and vice chairman of the chinese equestrian association, was taken away for investigation;

on august 4, 2015, pan zhichen, director of the volleyball management center of the state sports general administration, was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. in april 2016, the procuratorate opened an investigation into pan zhichen for the crime of accepting bribes.

in september 2015, the central commission for discipline inspection opened an investigation into the serious disciplinary violations of xiao tian, ​​deputy director of the state sports general administration. on september 1, 2016, the nanyang intermediate people's court of henan province held a public trial of xiao tian's bribery case.

according to the prosecution, xiao tian accepted property from relevant personnel totaling more than rmb 7.96 million.

xiao tian, ​​born in 1957, is from bengbu, anhui. he was a former athlete of the anhui provincial fencing team. in 1977, he was admitted to the beijing institute of physical education (now beijing sports university). in 1981, he was assigned to work at the then state sports commission. he served as the director of the fencing department of the laoshan bicycle and fencing center and the director (official director) of the laoshan bicycle and fencing center. in august 2005, he was appointed as the deputy director and party group member of the state sports general administration.

on december 26, 2016, the intermediate people's court of nanyang city, henan province, publicly pronounced the verdict on the bribery case of xiao tian, ​​former deputy director of the general administration of sport of china. the defendant xiao tian was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of accepting bribes and fined rmb 500,000. the property obtained by xiao tian in bribes was recovered and turned over to the state treasury.

the court found out through trial that from 1997 to 2014, the defendant xiao tian used the convenience of his positions as director of the winter sports management center of the state general administration of sport, director of the competitive sports department, assistant director, and deputy director, or used the convenience formed by his power and status, and through the official actions of other state officials, he provided assistance to relevant units and individuals in matters such as project contracting, event hosting, work arrangements, and promotion. he directly or through others solicited and illegally accepted property from relevant personnel totaling more than rmb 7.96 million.

some analysts believe that with the replacement of the director of the general administration of sport of china, china's sports world may be about to begin an anti-corruption campaign.

in fact, as early as 2009, the supreme people's procuratorate designated the liaoning provincial procuratorate to set up a special task force to target gambling, match-fixing and other shady practices in chinese football. it launched a three-year special campaign to "fight gambling and fight crime" in chinese football. hundreds of people were brought to liaoning to assist in the investigation, and 57 people were punished by law. the rectification was effective and curbed the "fake", "gambling" and "crime" in professional football for a certain period of time.

"the current corruption in my country's sports sector is both an extension and reflection of social malpractices in the sports field, and also the 'hidden rules' that exist in the process of professional development of sports in my country."

tian siyuan, director of the sports law research center of tsinghua university and director of the china sports law society, said that problems with sports conduct and discipline have a long history and take various forms. in recent years, incidents such as "match-fixing", "black whistles", "gambling", "doping", "dark side of athlete selection", "falsification of athlete ages", "manipulation and interference in competitions", and "commercial endorsement disputes between star athletes" have gradually entered the public eye. disciplinary and illegal issues in the sports field have not only corrupted a large number of officials, but have also greatly hindered china's sports reform and the development of the sports industry at the national level.

▍"if you go, you get a gold medal; if you don't go, you'll be unknown"

on july 28, 2014, the 11th central inspection team entered the state sports general administration for inspection. after this round of inspection, starting with yu li, many officials of the general administration were investigated and punished, and some referees and coaches in many places were taken away to assist in the investigation. many "hidden rules" in sports surfaced one by one.

"i noticed that the inspection team gave a lot of feedback to the general administration of sport, the most pressing of which was the problem of irregular, non-public and non-transparent selection of athletes and referees." tian siyuan analyzed that after years of development, china's competitive sportsin some ace advantage events, there is a temptation of "if you are allowed to participate, you will win the gold medal; if you are not allowed to participate, you will be unknown"; in events of average level, due to the monopoly and opaque selection mechanism, there is also an "unspoken rule" that "it is difficult to be selected without spending money".

yu li's abuse of power to influence players to join the national team is not an isolated case. according to the sports weekly, yu li was taken away by the central commission for discipline inspection along with a top coach of the national weightlifting team, who was involved in a scandal involving the chinese weightlifting team at the 2012 london olympics.

the chinese weightlifting team has always been a gold medal winner at the olympics, but in the women's 53kg weightlifting competition at the london olympics, the unknown hubei athlete zhou jun failed in all three snatches, creating the worst record for the chinese weightlifting team in olympic history; the 13 weightlifters before zhou jun won a total of 12 golds and 1 silver.

at that time, there were many domestic athletes with better performance than zhou jun, so how did zhou jun qualify for the olympics? after zhou jun failed in the snatch, many media pointed to the deep-seated problems in chinese sports - the selection mechanism, the balance between provinces and cities, and the protection of interests.

at the beijing olympics, all four chinese women's weightlifters won gold medals. because women's weightlifting is so strong, as long as you are selected for the women's weightlifting national team and can compete for the country, it means you can basically win a gold medal, and the domestic selection competition is extremely fierce.

amid this local interest dispute, because the hubei sports bureau believed that zhou jun's training was better than other athletes and insisted on "sending" zhou jun to participate in the competition, the top leaders of the national weightlifting team took care of hubei's "olympic quota", which resulted in an unexpected situation.

zhou jun’s “blank paper” is seen as the “evil consequence” of an opaque selection mechanism.

industry insiders revealed that although strength is the most important thing in competitive sports, in many events where one has an absolute advantage and anyone can win a medal, the selection of athletes for the national team becomes a matter of vested interests, which makes it more likely to lead to some private transactions of power for money.

even a "shameful" sport like chinese football is corrupt to the "extreme". the roster of each national team member is full of controversy. even the website of the central commission for discipline inspection has published articles criticizing the chaotic management of chinese football.

donna, a table tennis player who joined the national youth team at the age of 13 and won the national youth championship in 1996, failed to participate in the world championships and the olympics in the national team. she eventually changed her nationality and went to south korea to play. she later won all 10 games in the korean table tennis championships and ranked first in the women's singles.

"in china, i will never have a chance. the chinese table tennis association does not hold trials, but designates potential players in advance for intensive training." after representing the south korean team in international competitions, donna "blasted" the chinese national team's unfair selection system and said, "south korea is my homeland now... i hope to win first place in the olympics," causing an uproar in domestic and international public opinion.

"inside the general administration of sport, the selection mechanisms and regulations of various project centers are different. in some projects, the head coach gives the national team list, while in other projects, the center's chief leader has the final say. the selection process is not transparent, and the results are not announced. it is very confusing." tian siyuan compared it to other countries, where competitive sports are completely based on athletes' own strength. for example, there are professional leagues or open selection competitions organized by a third party. no matter how their usual performance is, if they do not reach the finals or get a good ranking in the selection competition, they cannot participate in the olympics.

the central inspection team also specifically pointed out the problem of "the selection and dispatch of athletes and referees is not open and transparent, and rent-seeking is relatively serious". after the special inspection, the general administration of sport studied and formulated the "management regulations for the selection and supervision of national team athletes and coaches", requiring all sports project management centers and national single sports associations to formulate implementation rules for each project in accordance with the above regulations of the general administration of sport, and further refine the operational measures, procedures and violation penalties for the selection and dispatch and supervision of national team athletes, coaches and national sports competition referees for each project according to the characteristics of the project, and announce and implement them after review by the general administration of sport.

"the key is that the selection process must be open and transparent, the results must be made public, and subject to social supervision," said tian siyuan.

▍match manipulation, gold medal "predetermined"

match-fixing is considered by insiders to be the second biggest "evil" of corruption in the sports world.

in recent years, under the cover of the "halo" of good results in some events, a small number of sports officials have used their influence and power to become manipulators of important competition results.

at the 12th national games, in order to "take care of" the "gold medal mission" of the host liaoning team, yu li, the former "head" of the national synchronized swimming team, successively accepted bribes of 200,000 yuan from the director of the liaoning swimming center, which resulted in a major scoring dispute in the synchronized swimming event.

at that time, the sichuan team's jiang wenwen/jiang tingting combination unexpectedly scored lower than the host team's wu yiwen/huang xuechen combination. after the game, jiang wenwen/jiang tingting held a press conference and cried about the "gold medal being pre-determined", claiming that "someone had said before the game that the liaoning combination would definitely win the gold medal."

in this turmoil, a lot of evidence points to yu li, who is considered to be a major suspect in "match manipulation."

coincidentally, at the 10th national games, tian liang, a famous diver, was suppressed because of a "bad relationship" with a leader of the chinese diving team. before the competition, in the referee's lounge, a senior sports executive demanded that "no matter how well tian liang jumped, he could only be given 8.5 points at most."

during the competition, after tian liang made a perfect entry into the water, except for one referee who gave a high score of 9.5 as per the standard, the other referees only gave 8.5 points. this referee who gave the high score eventually lost the qualification for the "best referee" selection and resigned soon after for offending his superiors.

later, lin, a well-known international diving referee, revealed to the media: "diving referees are almost in a puppet state. if the superiors want someone to win the gold medal, they will instruct the referees to give more points to suppress the scores of other opponents. as long as the superiors hint, it is easy to trick people. there are many substitute referees in the competition. if you don't obey, you will be discarded. there are many people waiting there."

an insider in the sports industry told fangyuan reporters that in subjective scoring events such as diving, synchronized swimming, and gymnastics, due to the lack of unified objective measurement standards, the referees' subjective judgment is relatively strong, and insiders in some events have great influence, which provides more possibilities for "backroom operations."

when it comes to corruption in the sports world, chinese football is often seen as a negative example. and when it comes to the level of corruption in match-fixing, the chinese super league is undoubtedly the worst - "bribing senior officials, buying off referees, and even buying off opponents to fix or blackball matches are common practices of some football clubs."

xie yalong, nan yong and yang yimin, three former presidents and vice presidents of the chinese football association, were arrested and imprisoned for accepting bribes in order to manipulate football matches. lu jun, a famous “golden whistle” referee, confessed after being detained that he had “colluded with officials of the football association to fix matches since the 2011 national games.”

"in some provinces, in order to win more gold medals, they secretly engage in profiteering." an insider gave an example. in the men's speed skating competition at a certain winter games, four athletes from two teams competed round after round in order, but there was no sign of the exciting scenes of sprinting and chasing that should be seen in short track speed skating. the audience exclaimed that it was "too fake."

this "spectacle" in the men's speed skating competition of the winter games was interpreted by industry insiders as "the gold medal was predetermined." because the inside story of this competition was complicated, according to the rules of the competition, it was in the interests of both teams for the leading player to win the championship.

“many games are obviously manipulated, which not only violates sports ethics but also challenges the audience’s iq, but the public can do nothing about it.therefore, it is necessary to establish a special sports conduct supervision team, and this supervision team must be independent of the sports authorities and fully introduced to social supervision, so that the competition can be clean. "tian siyuan suggested.

▍event approval and management chaos

"the current development of chinese sports still faces a big institutional obstacle, that is, event approval. from large-scale sports games and championships to small-scale private commercial events, all require approval from the sports authorities." qiao xinsheng, director of the institute of integrity at the central south university of finance and economics, pointed out in an interview with fangyuan reporters that for every event, the sports authorities will charge a hefty approval and management fee but do not provide any substantive services, which is essentially a disguised form of "rent-seeking."

"even if a company wants to hold a three-on-three basketball game, it needs the approval of the basketball association. this is ridiculous and unimaginable abroad.internationally, the olympics, nba and other events are all organized by non-governmental organizations. sports events are completely market-oriented, and there is no official approval at all. qiao xinsheng said that over the years, the general administration of sports and local sports authorities have formed a huge "interest chain" in event management, and the right to approve events has become a tool for the department to make gray profits.

regarding event approval, basketball star and cppcc member yao ming once proposed at the "two sessions" to "cancel event approval."

in yao ming's view, the collection and use of event approval fees has become a gray area that cannot be monitored by the outside world. management fees are often collected by the management center of each sport, and the standards vary greatly, which may breed corruption.; the sports management departments have interfered with the allocation of resources that could have been allocated by the market through administrative means, objectively forming a monopoly, suppressing the enthusiasm of some market players to organize events and healthy competition, seriously hindering the enthusiasm of social forces to run sports, and resulting in the fact of artificially setting up "thresholds" for organizing events.

yao ming believes that at the current stage of development, there is no necessary reason for the approval of sports events. yao ming's suggestion was adopted by the government work report that year, but industry insiders believe that sports departments at all levels have implemented event approval for many years, and it will be difficult to reform from within and take away this "profit pie".

it was not until the central inspection team pointed out problems such as "the irregular and non-transparent event approval, which highlighted departmental interests" that the general administration of sport was forced to make rectifications and stated, "cancel the approval of commercial and mass sports events. except for national comprehensive sports events such as the national games, the national winter games, the national youth games, and a few special types of sports events involving national security, politics, military affairs, diplomacy and other matters, all other events do not require approval."

in addition to event approval, industry insiders also pointed out that the management of some commercial events is also chaotic. for example, in a series of corruption scandals in chinese football, there have been constant reports of football association officials transferring benefits during negotiations with sponsors. the management of sports events has become a "weapon" for some officials to "line their pockets."

"to prevent corruption in the approval and management of events, we must start with institutional reform and increase the sports department's efforts to streamline administration and delegate power. once power is delegated to the market, sports officials will no longer have room for rent-seeking," suggested qiao xinsheng.

▍root cause: a "four-in-one" system and power concentration

many industry insiders and experts pointed out in interviews with fangyuan reporters that whether it is the "tricks" in event approval and operation, the chaos in the selection of athletes and coaches, or all kinds of fraud in the competition, the root cause is that the current sports management system leads to excessive concentration of power.

"under the current system, the project centers under the general administration of sports are not only administrative agencies, but also public institutions and associations. some centers also run enterprises. it can be said to be a 'four-in-one' system.qiao xinsheng said that this management system that integrates administration, institutions, associations and enterprises has powerful administrative power. from formulating industry regulations to selecting athletes and coaches, from approving sports events to hosting sports activities, from judging event disputes to awarding sports bonuses, the rapid development of competitive sports has brought potential and considerable benefits to various project centers.

qiao xinsheng believes that the various project centers under the "four-in-one" system, relying on their multiple identities as administrative agencies and social organizations, continue to strengthen their control over both administrative power and economic interests, which is a breeding ground for corruption in the sports world.

the reporter noticed that at the national level, the general administration of sport and the all-china sports federation are two different organizations with the same staff. logging on the website of the general administration of sport, the reporter saw that the general administration has many associations under it, including dozens of associations for olympic events such as basketball, track and field, table tennis, wrestling, tennis, gymnastics, fencing, shooting, and volleyball; and dozens of associations for non-olympic events such as darts, squash, e-sports, aviation sports, fishing, martial arts, dragon and lion dance, motorcycles, billiards, dragon boat, gateball, pigeons, bridge, etc.

"in the vast majority of countries in the world, the various single-sport associations under the jurisdiction of the international sports federations are social groups, not government agencies. the charters of some international single-sport organizations clearly prohibit administrative intervention in the operations of national single-sport associations." qiao xinsheng introduced that china's sports management system has its own particularities. since the planned economy era, in order to develop the country's sports cause, various project associations have been directly affiliated with the sports administrative agency, sharing offices and exercising powers centrally. today, a situation of "government and enterprises are one, and management and operation are not separated" has emerged.

similar to chinese football, which has been promoting professional development for 20 years, the market operation has always been commercialized, while the management is an administrative system. this "dual track system" of administrative management leading the market operation has inevitably led to scandals such as "official-business collusion" and "match-fixing and black whistle" in the football league.some commentators believe that the reason why the football level of such a great country has never improved is the "congenital defects" of this sports system.

another drawback of the system of "no separation of management and operation" is that it leads to a serious phenomenon of sports officials holding multiple positions. for example, the fallen sports tycoon xiao tian, ​​in addition to being the deputy director of the general administration of sports, also served as the vice president of the chinese olympic committee, the lifetime honorary member of the international fencing federation, the chairman of the chinese fencing association, the chairman of the chinese skating association, the chairman of the chinese equestrian association, the vice president of the chinese sports strategy research association, the president of the sports law research association of the chinese law society, and the vice president of the international basketball federation.

"this provides space and opportunities for collusion between officials and businessmen, and for money-for-power transactions. if a sports agent or event organizer profits from sports commercial activities, there is nothing wrong with it; but if a part-time sports administrative official does these things, his or her behavior of obtaining remuneration is definitely in violation of discipline and law." qiao xinsheng analyzed that the problem can only be ultimately solved by reforming the system, transforming functions, and streamlining administration and delegating power.

in response to sports corruption, zhang huawei, head of the central inspection team, also put forward suggestions: promote new breakthroughs in the reform of the sports management system, earnestly solve the problem of the lack of distinction between administration, public institutions, social groups and enterprises, realize the separation of politics and administration, politics and society, government and enterprises, separation of management and operation, and standardize the large number of part-time jobs of cadres in associations and enterprises.

▍reversing the wrong view of “gold medals first” in political achievements

in addition to institutional reasons, in order to eliminate corruption in the sports world, tian siyuan believes that from the general administration of sports to local sports bureaus, the wrong performance concept of "gold medal supremacy" must be reversed.

"the current operating model and assessment system of competitive sports in our country are gold medal-oriented. the number of gold medals is directly linked to the interest chain such as the promotion of local sports officials, the future of athletes, and the bonuses of coaches. this 'gold medal first' performance concept has seriously distorted the sports spirit of tenacious struggle and pursuit of excellence." tian siyuan told the "fangyuan" reporter.

the central inspection team once pointed out: faced with the political honor and economic benefits brought by gold medals, a few leading cadres have developed a completely wrong view of political achievements, one-sidedly pursuing athletic results and the number of gold medals, neglecting the education, guidance and strict management of athletes and coaches, and even giving wrong policy guidance, resulting in a few athletes and coaches using any means to achieve good results in the arena, openly violating the spirit and ethics of sports, and even taking risks to violate national laws and regulations.

take the national games as an example. according to tian siyuan's observation, the national games has always been the main battlefield for the wrestling of various sports bureaus. behind the medals are the "profits" worth hundreds of millions of yuan of the sports bureaus of provinces, cities and autonomous regions across the country. before the national games, some provinces, especially the host countries, begin to issue "gold medal tasks", from the provincial sports bureau to the various project centers to the coaches and athletes, layer by layer. the political honor and economic benefits that come with the gold medals make some local sports departments often use any means, which leads to various "shady stories" and unhealthy trends in the arena.

chen peide, former director of the zhejiang provincial sports bureau, who is known as the "anti-gangster fighter" in the sports world, once pointed out sharply: "there is a kind of corruption in the sports world that only exists in the sports world and not in other fields, that is competition. corruption in competition is not an individual act, but often a collective act, an organizational act, and a government act."

"although the spirit of sports emphasizes higher, faster and stronger, all of this is carried out under the premise of fairness, justice and openness. on the field, gold medals represent a country's sports level to a certain extent, but fairness and justice represent the country's sports image even more. corruption in the sports world caused by the pursuit of gold medals not only runs counter to the original spiritual values ​​of sports, but also tarnishes china's sports image," said tian siyuan.

the general administration of sport of china announced a series of rectification measures in response to the issues raised by the central inspection team. among them, the one that attracted the most attention from the public was that "in the future, gold medal and medal lists will not be announced in the national games and other national comprehensive sports games." in this regard, public opinion was mixed. some commentators believed that not announcing the gold medal list could not cure the stubborn disease of "gold medal supremacy" and was "changing the soup but not the medicine."

"what people are disgusted with is not the gold medal list, but the various corrupt behaviors generated by winning gold medals. the key is to reverse the gold medal-oriented sports assessment system and development model. only by establishing a scientific and comprehensive sports development evaluation system can the concept of 'gold medal supremacy' be eliminated." tian siyuan said.

▍putting sports reform and development into legal track

to prevent and curb corruption in the sports world, the rule of law is crucial. in tian siyuan's view, the current situation of my country's sports rule of law has "four shortcomings" - delayed legislation, interest-based law enforcement, formal supervision and judicial marginalization. "building an effective system for preventing and controlling sports corruption is an urgent task."

"as the fundamental law of the industry, the sports law contains mostly principled provisions. there are no clear legal provisions for issues such as match-fixing, arbitration disputes, and the selection of athletes and referees. the existing sports legal system cannot effectively curb the spread of sports corruption, and the situation of governing the sport according to law is far from being formed." tian siyuan suggested that the legislature should amend the sports law in a timely manner, formulate legal norms such as the professional sports regulations and the anti-unfair competition regulations in sports competitions, so as to clarify the legal responsibilities for violations of discipline and law in professional sports and improve the professional sports management system.

"the current corruption in the sports world is mainly corruption in the competitive field. therefore, it is necessary to establish an anti-corruption constraint mechanism for competitive sports from the aspects of interest orientation, interest distribution, and interest punishment. on the one hand, we must focus on solving problems in the selection of athletes, referee scoring, event approval and other links; on the other hand, we must work harder on the 'de-bureaucratization' of sports and establish scientific evaluation indicators for sports development from multiple angles such as national sports and mass sports." qiao xinsheng suggested.