Multiple teams in China’s elite soccer league were hit with points deductions and financial penalties for match fixing. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
The Chinese Football Association’s (CFA) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee has hit multiple teams in China’s elite soccer league with points deductions and financial penalties for match fixing.
Tianjin Tigers and last season’s Chinese Super League runners-up Shanghai Shenhua received the most severe points cut, and will both start the upcoming season at -10.
Seven other franchises will join the pair on negative points for the CSL campaign, while four sanctioned teams have already been demoted to China League One, according to the BBC.
match-fixing, gambling, and corruption”
Tianjin Tigers and Shanghai Shenhua were both hit with ¥1m ($143k) fines, while the other teams were penalized between ¥200k-¥800k ($28k-$115k). The CFA’s investigation into “match-fixing, gambling, and corruption” in Chinese soccer resulted in the sanctions, with the penalties intended to “uphold industry discipline, purify the football environment, and maintain fair competition.”
The CFA warned it would continue its “zero-tolerance” policy toward corruption.
Former Everton midfielder Li Tie, 48, was jailed and banned from soccer for life along with 73 others after he admitted last year to fixing matches, accepting and offering bribes.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
