A continuing storm has swept through the Chinese soccer world, with the head of the FA's disciplinary department, Wang Xiaoping, and the head of the competition department, Huang Song, in serious disciplinary trouble. At the same time, former national soccer team manager Li Tie, former FA secretary general Liu Yi, as well as former FA executive deputy secretary general Chen Yongliang and FA president Chen Xuyuan have also been arrested by the police. This round of anti-corruption storm has led to the fall of six top executives of the FA.
A series of secretive job descriptions of FA executives have also been made public. Wang Xiaoping, as director of the Disciplinary Department, issued 3.5 million fines in 2017, and media reported that the money went into his personal pocket. The "dark" side of Chen Xuyuan's chairmanship has also been exposed, with former Sports Weekly reporter Ran Xiongfei quickly revealing the inside story of Chen Xuyuan and Liu Yi's alleged acceptance of 50 million dollars from the general manager of the Shenzhen men's soccer team, Ding Yong.
Media sources detailed: "Take Ding Yong as an example. During his tenure at Tianjin Tianhai, he helped Shenzhen succeed in the Chinese Super League, squeezing out Tianhai by shady means. 50 million not only attacked Chen Xuyuan and Liu Yi, but also enlisted a number of soccer media people."
The amount of $50 million illegally obtained is staggering. Recall that Xie Yalong, the former chairman of the Football Association, had taken a private bribe of 1.36 million dollars to help Shandong Luneng win the championship, and was eventually fined 910,000 dollars and imprisoned for 10 years and 6 months. If this standard measurement, Chen Xuyuan illegally obtained 50 million is enough to make him face more than ten years of imprisonment, the amount is mind-boggling. It is worth noting that Chen Xuyuan's illegal gains are not even inferior to those of Li Tie, the former head coach of the national soccer team. Li Tie had illegally profited from an annual salary of $30 million at Wuhan Zall, totaling as much as $60 million over two years. At that time, Chen Xuyuan had also fought for Li Tie's high salary.
Now, Ding Yong, who is suspected of the 50 million dollar bribery case, has also been taken away by the official discipline inspection team. It can be said that all those involved have been caught. I believe that the disciplinary team will dig further and implicate more Chinese soccer players. Former international player Xu Liang said that if we want to save Chinese soccer, we must replace all the managers of the FA. Only with drastic reforms can Chinese soccer be revitalized. Xu Liang's suggestion may be worth thinking about in light of the fact that six leaders, including Li Tie and Chen Xuyuan, have been arrested for serious violations of the law and discipline.
