What’s new: Two more senior officials of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), the governing body of professional soccer, are being investigated for suspected graft as part of a deepening crackdown on corruption in the sport.
Huang Song, head of the CFA’s competition department, is suspected of “serious violations of (Communist Party) discipline and law,” a common euphemism for graft, according to a statement published Friday by an inspection team from Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
The CFA’s disciplinary committee director Wang Xiaoping is being investigated on suspicion of serious violations of the law, the inspection team said in a separate statement Friday, without elaborating.
The background: Huang and Wang are the latest in a string of top CFA officials to be investigated for suspected corruption. Others caught in the crackdown include CFA President Chen Xuyuan and Chen Yongliang, the association’s executive deputy secretary-general.
The investigations are part of a broader effort to root out corruption in professional soccer in China, which has long been criticized for the abysmal playing record of the men’s national team, lavish salaries of its players and scandals involving the sport’s stars.
Multiple Chinese professional soccer players were taken away by police for investigation earlier this month, which may be related to sports gambling, Caixin learned from sources.
Before that, a number of soccer officials, including the former head coach of the Chinese men’s soccer team Li Tie, were also ensnared in the ongoing corruption probe.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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