China’s Football Association bans 43 people for life following corruption investigations

DALIAN – The Chinese Football Association has banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption, the latest attempt to end corruption in the country’s notoriously underperforming team sport.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday that Zhang Xiaopeng, a senior police official, attended a press conference in Dalian to announce details of a “two-year investigation that has uncovered a series of cases of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery.”

According to Xinhua, 120 matches in national leagues, 128 suspects and 41 clubs were involved in the investigation. Of those banned, 38 were players and five officials who worked for different clubs.

Among those banned from the sport for life were former Chinese international players Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu and Gu Chao.

Other players and officials received shorter bans, including foreign players who had been lured to China with the promise of high salaries.

South Korean Son Jun-ho, who played for China’s Shandong Taishan FC, and Ewolo Donovan from Cameroon, who previously played for Heilongjiang Ice City, were banned for five years.

Son’s activities “represented serious violations of sports ethics and sportsmanship and had a significant negative impact on society,” the association said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to make China a soccer superpower, but the men’s teams have so far failed to gain much traction. Promises to build new pitches and hire staff have fallen short of expectations as the economy struggles to get back on its feet following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan defeated China 7-0 last week to open the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. It was China’s heaviest defeat against Japan, a geopolitical rival in Asia.

The Chinese men’s team played against Saudi Arabia in Dalian later on Tuesday in their second World Cup qualifier in five days.

China still has a chance to qualify for the expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, but even with the larger field, China may not make it past the continental qualifying stage.

China has only qualified for the World Cup once, losing all three group matches in 2002.

In the latest FIFA world rankings for men’s national teams, China ranked 87th, just behind Curaçao (150,000 inhabitants) and just ahead of Equatorial Guinea (1.7 million).

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