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original by hu kefei china news weekly

after the football association announced the "ban list"

on the evening of september 10, the chinese national football team lost 1:2 to the saudi men's football team. with one more player, they did not get any points at home. on the morning of the match between the chinese national football team and the saudi men's football team, the state sports general administration and the ministry of public security jointly held a press conference in dalian on the special rectification campaign against the "fake gambling and black market" problem in the professional football league.

the person in charge of the public security bureau of the ministry of public security introduced that since 2022, the ministry of public security has focused on assigning public security organs in liaoning and other places to crack down on relevant football gambling and match-fixing cases, and has made an overall plan to crack down on illegal and criminal activities such as online football gambling, match manipulation, and bribery. 128 suspects of illegal and criminal activities have been arrested, 12 online gambling gangs have been dismantled, 120 suspected football gambling and match-fixing matches have been verified, and criminal coercive measures have been taken against 83 players, referees, coaches, and club managers involved in the case in accordance with the law.

at present, 44 football practitioners involved in the case have been sentenced by the court in accordance with the law, and 34 of them have been sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or above.

the head of the chinese football association introduced the disciplinary penalties imposed on 61 football practitioners involved in the case: 43 of them were banned from engaging in any football-related activities in my country for life; 17 were banned from engaging in any football-related activities in my country for five years; another person had been banned from engaging in house arrest for life in 2013, and was again criminally punished for opening a casino in this case.

on june 22, in the fourth round of the 2024 fa cup, wang song played for shijiazhuang kungfu against qingdao west coast. photo/visual china

played in the game 3 days ago

according to the materials of 61 people involved in the football gambling and match-fixing case transferred by the public security bureau of the ministry of public security to the chinese football association, 44 of them were criminally punished for one or more crimes including bribery of non-state personnel, bribery of non-state personnel, opening a casino, gambling, etc.; 17 people were found to have accepted bribes, played match-fixing and other behaviors, and should be dealt with in accordance with discipline and regulations.

the above-mentioned persons involved in the case include players, coaches and team officials from different teams in the three-level leagues, including the chinese super league, china league one and china league two. some of the players on the banned list still played in previous leagues. for example, wang song, a veteran who was banned for five years, played for shijiazhuang kung fu club in the china league one match against heilongjiang ice city club on september 7 and played the full 90 minutes. similar to wang song, in the last round of china league one and china league two, 12 players on the banned list played in the game, and all of them started.

on september 10, a player from shijiazhuang kung fu club told china newsweek that the team was quite surprised after seeing the football association's press conference. just last month, the club announced that wang song had joined the first-line coaching team as a player-coach and participated in daily training. "wang song had been training with the team before, but he left the team the same day after the football association's press conference."

on september 11, wang song issued a statement through social media saying that he "has never done anything to let the team down, has not played fixed matches, has not manipulated players to play fixed matches, and will not and does not need to profit from it, and he will seek to appeal with the chinese football association."

a staff member of another club told china newsweek that there was a player on the banned list released by the football association who played for his club last year and transferred to another club after the end of last season. "in order to meet the entry threshold required by the football association, our club paid him his salary. he also played for the new team after the start of the new season."

the staff member expressed confusion. if the football association had known the relevant situation at the time, why did it allow the transfer and registration to be completed? if the registration had been completed, why did it announce the ban in the middle of the season?

in response to the above doubts, an insider from the chinese football association told china newsweek that this case was hosted by the public security organs. due to the case handling cycle and progress, the players involved were successively held criminally responsible. during the league registration period, the football association had no right to prevent the normal transfer and signing of players who have not been found to have committed crimes by the public security organs.

in the list of banned players released by the football association, there are 8 players from the former xinjiang tianshan snow leopards club, which was disbanded last year. in this case, in addition to the chairman sun aijun and staff member zhang nan, there are 6 players suspected of violating laws and disciplines.

on september 11, zhang fujun, former deputy general manager of the xinjiang tianshan snow leopard club, told china newsweek that after the club was disbanded last year, he fell into depression and spent more than a year to adjust himself.when he saw the punishment from the chinese football association, he was stunned. "to make an inappropriate analogy, tianshan snow leopard is like someone i once loved deeply. although i felt that she cheated during the process, after we broke up, it turned out that she not only cheated, but also cheated with many people at the same time. this is disgusting."

the football association is unable to determine “match-fixing”?

after the football association announced the list of banned players, shi xueqing, former general manager of dalian yifang football club, told china newsweek that he was not surprised. he recalled that in the 2015 china league one, dalian yifang club ranked second in the china league one and was optimistic about promotion to the chinese super league. however, in the final stage of the league, china fortune club led by li tie approached dalian yifang in the standings, and many games began to show that something was wrong.

shi xueqing even went to some clubs at his own expense to persuade them not to accept benefits from the china fortune club and thus fix matches. he also sent several letters of complaint to the chinese football association, asking it to pay attention to the matter."that year, i went to beijing with officials from the dalian football association to seek an explanation from yu hongchen, then vice chairman of the chinese football association. however, yu hongchen avoided us and sent ma chengquan, then chairman of the chinese super league company, to meet us. when i explained the situation, ma looked unhappy."

eight years later, li tie, yu hongchen and ma chengquan were all brought down and appeared in the anti-corruption special filmed by cctv titled "continued efforts and deeper advancement".

yao zhiqiang, former general manager of inner mongolia caoshangfei club, told china newsweek that as a practitioner of chinese professional football, it is not difficult to find that something is wrong with the team or the game, but it is very difficult or even impossible to provide evidence.

"many years ago, i received an anonymous call from someone who said that some of my club's players had been paid to fix matches. i immediately told the foreign head coach of the team, but he didn't think the players would do such an unprofessional thing at a critical moment when the team was trying to avoid relegation." in the end, the team still lost the game as promised. yao zhiqiang had thought about reporting it, but he had no evidence.

zhang bing, founding partner of shanghai landi law firm, is a well-known sports lawyer in chinese football. he has represented hundreds of football players and served as legal advisor to several professional football clubs.

zhang bing told china newsweek that there is no concept of "match-fixing" in the law, and the criminal law does not have corresponding provisions on manipulating sports games. currently, judicial authorities are holding the football club managers and players involved in the case criminally responsible for crimes such as bribery of non-state personnel, bribery of non-state personnel, opening of casinos, and gambling, based on their specific behaviors.

zhang bing revealed that the reason why the suspects were investigated by the public security organs was because the public security organs cracked two gambling cases in shenyang and qingdao in 2022 and arrested two bookmakers. based on the relevant evidence and testimony provided by the bookmakers, records of some game transactions were found, proving the relationship between the bookmakers and some players, officials and clubs, and then the case was advanced by the players gradually giving out other players.

in zhang bing's view, it is precisely because there is illegal behavior evidenced by transactions that the players involved can be legally determined to have committed illegal acts. only matches involving illegal players can be judged as what people often call "match-fixing."

compared with the public security organs, the chinese football association, as an administrative agency, does not have the ability to conduct law enforcement investigations. in the absence of intervention from judicial organs, it is naturally unable to determine which matches are "match-fixing."

"as far as i know, some players were investigated in this case and eventually sentenced to house arrest after participating in only one transaction. some players did it many times, but were not involved in the transactions and games confessed by the bookmaker this time," said zhang bing.

players issued statements to "claim injustice"

after the football association released the ban list on september 10, some players on the list expressed their attitudes by holding press conferences or issuing statements.

as of press time, about 10 players have expressed their views in different ways. on september 10, former heilongjiang ice city foreign aid donovan evolo issued a statement saying that he did not play a fixed match, but only received a bonus and an lv brand leather bag from the then heilongjiang ice city captain li shuai after winning the game.

later, lu ning, a former heilongjiang ice city player on the banned list, also posted a message saying that it was captain li shuai who called him and said that the team would return the owed wages to him, but the amount increased during the transfer, and li shuai told him that it was a bonus for winning the game.

ding jie, a former member of the shaanxi chang'an athletic team, issued a statement saying that he did break the law, but he did not let down the shaanxi fans. the game in which he violated the rules and disciplines was on december 8, 2021, shaanxi chang'an athletic vs. nantong zhiyun, the team won 2:1, and received 70,000 yuan after the game. on september 13, sun dong, a former player of jiangxi nandamen, issued a statement saying that he participated in match-fixing activities because of unpaid wages and had been sentenced to 8 months in prison.

some people in the football industry believe that the reason why so many players "cried out for injustice" after this punishment is that the cases and details of some of the people involved have not been made public. in the 2009 football anti-corruption incident, the information and details of almost all the people involved were made public, but this time there was only one result, which caused information asymmetry.

regarding the way some players issued statements to "protest injustice", zhang bing told china news weekly that he understood that some players were surprised, unacceptable, and reacted strongly. but the proper way should be to file a complaint with the dispute resolution committee of the chinese football association within 7 days. if the response received is still unacceptable, you can also file a complaint with the china sports arbitration commission. if the other party finds that the disciplinary punishment imposed on the player is problematic after two appeals, then the decision will be revoked.

"during the appeal process, the relevant committee must present some of the evidence provided by the public security organs to the complaining players, and the players can also further evaluate whether they are really 'wronged'." zhang bing said.

on september 11, sun junhao, a foreign player who played for shandong taishan, held a press conference in suwon, south korea, responding to the fact that he was banned from engaging in any football-related activities in china for life by the chinese football association. photo/visual china

some players put their personal accounts

directly provided to bookmakers

after the ban list was released, many players contacted zhang bing to ask him to represent them, but zhang bing was always very cautious. when communicating with players, zhang bing always asked the same question: "when the public security organs were investigating the case, what did you say to the other party?"

some players seemed to downplay the investigation by the public security organs when talking to zhang bing, and even avoided the main point. zhang bing found it hard to believe what some players said. "if the facts are really as he told me, he really should not be held accountable, but the facts may not be so."

zhang bing told china newsweek that many players repeatedly mentioned in their communications with him that they "were not aware of anything", but in fact, the public security organs finally investigated and determined that they were involved in the case, which must be related to the transaction. in other words, the players involved must have received the money from the bookmaker in different ways, which can form the most solid evidence.

"let's put aside the criminal offense and talk about it from a civil perspective. if a person suddenly receives a sum of money from an unknown source, shouldn't you figure it out? whether it's the captain of the team or the 'big brother' of the team, if he suddenly gives you money after the game, shouldn't you ask why?" zhang bing asked in return.

zhang bing said that some players in the chinese football industry have a low level of awareness and lack basic legal knowledge."some players even used their own personal accounts to trade with bookmakers. bookmakers directly transferred money to players' personal accounts. the public security organs checked the banknotes and confirmed the facts. many players even kept records of their communication, discussion and payment with bookmakers in their instant messaging software."

zhang bing introduced that although some players did not accept direct benefits from the bookmakers to fix matches on the field, they provided relevant game information to the bookmakers and profited from it. these players will eventually be convicted of the crime of accepting bribes as non-state employees.

in addition, zhang bing introduced that in addition to the limited level of cognition of the players themselves, the strong penetration of the bookmakers is also one of the reasons why a large number of players violate the law."there was a player who i thought had a very simple personality. in order to buy him off, the bookmaker followed him for three years, invited him to dinner every weekend, and persuaded him. after three years of persuasion, they finally brought him into the game."

it is not difficult to see from the list of banned players released by the chinese football association that midfielders and backfielders account for a large proportion, while the number of frontfielders is relatively low. in this regard, a former professional chinese super league player confirmed to china news weekly that for bookmakers, they do "favor" midfielders and backfielders more."the performance of the midfielders determines whether the team can attack forward normally and intercept and defend, while the central defenders are more likely to make selective mistakes, and the goalkeeper is even simpler." said the professional player.

the player said that in addition to the fact that positions are more critical to deciding games, most teams generally use more experienced athletes in key "central axis" positions so that they can help the team with their personal game experience. small and medium-sized teams and weaker clubs are more willing to use veterans in relevant positions.

these veterans not only decide the direction of the game on the court, but are also the undisputed "big brothers" of the club in the locker room off the court. once the bookmakers have these "big brothers" on their side, young athletes can easily fall into the trap of "fake gambling and black market" because of the demands of the "big brothers".

"if the 'big brother' in the team is very resolute in his attitude against gambling, it will to a certain extent prevent young players from going astray. but if the 'big brother' himself is the operator of match-fixing, in such an environment it may only be a matter of time and number for others to be dragged into the water," said the player.

based on his many years of experience dealing with the chinese football association, zhang bing believes that the reason why the chinese football association finally made the corresponding judgment must be that it saw very detailed evidence and information, otherwise it would not easily make such a strict punishment.

how will the club involved be punished in the future?

in addition to the undisclosed penalties for the remaining batches of players involved, there has also been widespread discussion about how the football association will punish the clubs involved.

at the press conference on the special rectification campaign against "fake gambling and black-market" issues in the professional football league held on september 10, chinese football association chairman song kai stated that he would inform international organizations of the relevant industry penalties against those involved. in addition, the clubs involved in the case would be investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law and announced to the public in a timely manner.

"whether the relevant clubs will be punished, our attitude towards governing the 'fake gambling and black market' in the football industry is firm. no matter whether it is players or clubs, as long as they are involved in 'fake gambling and black market', we will seriously investigate and deal with them in accordance with the law, impose industry penalties, and will never tolerate them. we will also promptly announce them to the public and accept social supervision." song kai said.

in fact, as early as february 28 this year, after two years of revision, the chinese football association issued the latest version of the "chinese football association disciplinary code" and distributed it to various associations and football clubs.

in the new "chinese football association disciplinary code", it is repeatedly emphasized that we must resolutely crack down on "fake gambling and black" and other illegal and disciplinary violations. it is clearly stated that improper trading behaviors include but are not limited to "fake gambling and black" and other bad behaviors. if a natural person or organization violates sports ethics, loses sportsmanship, or conducts improper transactions to obtain improper competition results or improper benefits, the following penalties will be imposed upon the determination of the disciplinary committee: natural persons: fines, prohibition from engaging in any football-related activities; organizations: fines, deductions, demotions and cancellation of upgrade qualifications, cancellation of registration qualifications.

in addition to the relevant penalties imposed by the club, three players on the banned list released by the football association are now playing overseas: former shandong taishan player sun junhao now plays for suwon fc in south korea, former shandong taishan player guo tianyu now plays for chiangrai united in thailand, and former heilongjiang ice city player donovan evolo now plays for al-khaitan football club in kuwait.

among them, guo tianyu issued an apology statement through social media in august this year, hoping that he could be given a chance to repay all those who cared about him by playing football.

the chinese football association has publicly stated that it will report the ban list to fifa, which will decide whether to impose penalties on the relevant personnel worldwide. whether players who have left china and played in overseas leagues will be punished still needs to wait for fifa's final decision.

that year, the chinese football association reported to fifa a list of 58 people involved in the corruption case, including xie yalong, nan yong and other senior officials of the football association. subsequently, the fifa disciplinary committee announced an additional punishment of global ban on the above individuals, and stated that the decision to impose additional punishment was in line with the fifa disciplinary committee's penalty regulations.

from this point of view, it may only be a matter of time before those involved in this case are eventually punished with a global ban by fifa.

on the afternoon of september 13, choi chun-ho, general manager of suwon fc of the korean k league, publicly announced that the club had decided to terminate the cooperation with the player son jun-ho after communicating with him. choi chun-ho said: "if the player himself had such a controversy, it would cause trouble to the fans. we can't tell whether they came to watch the football game or to see son jun-ho. rather than the team showing an unsatisfactory image in front of the fans because of such troubles, it is better to directly terminate the game. so in terms of suspending the game or terminating cooperation with the player, we chose the latter."

the aforementioned former chinese super league professional player recalled to china newsweek that after the anti-corruption campaign in chinese football more than a decade ago, many people in the industry believed that the "fake gambling and black market" that had long restricted the development of chinese football had been rectified, and chinese football would usher in a stage of rapid development. but in fact, the current state of chinese football, whether in terms of national team performance or league quality, is not satisfactory, and "fake gambling and black market" has not only not been eradicated, but has made a comeback.

the name of shen liuxi on the list of banned players released on september 10 has attracted special attention. the former zhejiang greentown player was charged with bribery as a non-state employee and sentenced during the last anti-corruption campaign in football. in 2013, the chinese football association issued a fine in which shen liuxi was banned for life.

according to the announcement released by the chinese football association on september 10, former hangzhou greentown player shen liuxi was banned from engaging in any football-related activities for life in 2013, but he still did not repent and was punished for opening a casino in this case. the chinese football association once again issued a notice, requiring the entire industry to strictly enforce the ban on him.

author: hu kefei