Since the Li Tie case broke out last year, more than 70 soccer agents have been taken away for investigation by the disciplinary authorities, including executives of the National Football League, the Football Association, and Chinese Super League clubs, as well as soccer agents who help clubs trade players. Among them are heavyweights such as Li Tie, Liu Yi, Chen Yongliang, Wang Xiaoping, Yu Hongchen and Chen Xuyuan.
It can be said that the CFA is now a potpourri from top to bottom, and even retired former FA executives have not been spared. From the current situation, the national soccer team and the FA should be checked by the relevant departments have basically been checked. Even if there are fish missing from the net, there won't be too big a fish.
Even so, the investigation by the disciplinary authorities will not end. Recently, the official media Xinhua News Agency released the list of the new round of inspections by the central government, including the State General Administration of Sports. In addition, Xinhua published an editorial article stating that the inspection of the State General Administration of Sports should deeply investigate and promote solutions in the field of sports, especially corruption and systemic problems in the field of soccer.
The rare voice of Xinhua News Agency is enough to show the determination of the disciplinary authorities on the problems of "corruption and fake gambling" in Chinese soccer. The next investigation will focus on the national team, the Football Association, the upstream and downstream of the Chinese Super League clubs to the General Administration of Sport, and then to all the relevant personnel who have business dealings with the Football Association.
Judging from the current situation, some of the top officials of the General Administration of Sport and leaders who have already left the organization are definitely within the scope of investigation by the disciplinary authorities. There is no doubt that referees enforcing professional leagues at all levels are the closest link to the FA's business.
Due to the impact of the epidemic over the past three years, the FA has been unable to hire foreign referees to enforce the domestic league, and the FA has reused many local international and national referees.
These referees are not as good as high level foreign referees in terms of business ability and moral standards. That is why in the past few seasons, many matches in the top domestic league, the Chinese Super League, have been marred by very serious misjudgments, omissions and counter-judgments. Official and humane whistles are not uncommon in the league.
Among all the Chinese Super League teams, Chen Xuyuan's old employer, Shanghai Harbor, is undoubtedly one of the teams most favored by the referees. Shandong Taishan, as a direct rival to Seaport's title, has become the target of the "famous referees of the Chinese Super League". Ma Ning, Fu Ming, Zhang Lei, Li Haixin and other referees praised by the Football Association have been "tough" on the Taishan team.
Taishan Club has repeatedly complained to the Disciplinary Committee of the Football Association, but has not received fair feedback from the Association because of the obvious unfairness of the penalties imposed on the Taishan team in several matches. As a result, some Shandong fans acted on their own to investigate and report the plagiarism and academic misconduct of Maning and Fu Ming's academic papers.
However, under the protection of the FA, these referees were not punished too harshly. On the contrary, they made great strides in the World Cup, taking part in enforcement matches. As the saying goes, sooner or later you have to pay back for what you have done. Against the backdrop of a complete overhaul of Chinese soccer, how can these referees escape the investigation of the relevant authorities?
Recently, a D player of China's A team, Shenyang City, revealed in a live broadcast that the most famous referees in domestic soccer, such as Manning, Fu Ming, and Li Haixin, have already been investigated by the relevant authorities. Zhang, a lawyer commissioned by Dai Weijun and other Chinese Super League players to help them get paid, recently broke the news directly on social media, saying, "Referees have started to be copied."
All indications so far are that the disciplinary authorities have begun a full-scale investigation into domestic referees, and it's paying off. I believe that Manning, Fu Ming and others will eventually be caught, and there will be clear results soon after the official announcement by the relevant departments...
