The 2003–2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals were revealed by a large-scale 2009–2013 investigation of football

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...

, bribery and

match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

(Sometimes also known as "" or ""). The scandals were first made public in October 2009. Instead of being led by

General Administration of Sport of China The General Administration of Sport () is the government agency responsible for sports in mainland China. It is subordinate to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It also administers the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese Oly ...

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's ...

like previous investigations, this investigation was led by the Ministry of Public Security. Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, who are all former vice presidents of Chinese Football Association, along with Zhang Jianqiang and some other CFA officials were arrested and removed from their posts.

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

was stripped of their 2003 Chinese Jia-A League title. Lu Jun, the only Chinese referee in the history of

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, and

China national football team The China national football team (, recognised as China PR by FIFA) represents the People's Republic of China in international association football and is governed by the Chinese Football Association. China won the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2005 ...

players

Shen Si Shen Si () (born 1 May 1973 in Shanghai) is a former Chinese international footballer who played as a left midfielder where he gained a reputation for his technical and free kick skills, which saw him become a runner-up in the 2004 Free Kick Mas ...

Jiang Jin Jiang Jin (; born October 17, 1968 in Tianjin) is a former Chinese international football goalkeeper. He was the first-choice goalkeeper for China during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Along with his older brother Jiang Hong he also became a goalke ...

Qi Hong Qi Hong (; born June 3, 1976 in Shanghai) is a former Chinese international footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or shadow striker throughout his career. At Shanghai Shenhua he won the league and Chinese FA Cup with them before co ...

and Li Ming were arrested and sentenced to 5.5 years or 6 years in jail.

Background

In the aftermath of the

2001 Chinese football match-fixing scandal The 2001 China Jia B League Match Fixing, also called the Five Jia B Rats incident (甲B五鼠事件) in China, was a series of match fixing that involved five football teams – Chengdu F.C., Jiangsu Sainty, Changchun Yatai, Zhejiang Green Town ...

, referee

Gong Jianping Gong Jianping (; ; July 12, 1960 - July 11, 2004) was a FIFA-ranked international Referee (association football), football referee from Beijing, China. As a chief referee for the Chinese Football Association, he was the only referee charged for ...

was jailed and died in the prison. Other team managers, referees and officials were not subject to any criminal prosecution.

Shandong Luneng Taishan Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is ...

and

Zhejiang Green Town Zhejiang Professional Football Club (), commonly referred to as Zhejiang FC or simply Zhejiang, is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (C ...

were fined 800,000

RMB The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022. ...

, Jiangsu Sainty and

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

were fined 500,000 RMB,

Qingdao Etsong Hainiu Qingdao Hainiu may reference one of the following football clubs: * Qingdao F.C., a football club established in 2013, named Qingdao Hainiu between 2013 and 2015 *Qingdao Hainiu F.C. (1990) Qingdao Hainiu Football Club (, known as Hai-niu or lit ...

was fined 300,000 RMB. Their club managers were "seriously warned". In 2006, ''Liaoshen Evening News'' report match-fixing event to the

. Xie Yalong, Nan Yong and Yang Yimin replied "the CFA will carefully study the evidence and quickly request judicial intervention. Please report to us again next time."

Notable affected matches

Shanghai Shenhua vs Shanghai COSCO Sanlin in 2003

It was revealed in 2011 that the referee Lu Jun and CFA official Zhang Jianqiang received bribes totaling 700,000 yuan from

before this Shanghai

derby match A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. The intensity of the rivalry can range anywhere from a light hearted banter to serious violen ...

between the top two teams. In 2013, Shanghai Shenhua was stripped of its 2003 title. Lu Jun, once nicknamed "Golden Whistle" (金哨), was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for fixing the results of the Shanghai derby and six other league matches.

Shanghai COSCO Sanlin vs Tianjin TEDA in 2003

The CFA stipulated that the result of "the 2002 Jia-A League rank * 0.5 + the 2003 Jia-A League rank" will be used to determine the teams participating the newly created Chinese Super League in 2004. In the final round of the 2003 Jia-A League,

Chongqing Lifan Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic () is a defunct Chinese football club. The team was based in Chongqing. The club was founded in 1995 as Wuhan Qianwei before making their debut in the newly developed fully professional Chinese football league system ...

would have to lose to

and hope

Shanghai COSCO Sanlin Beijing Chengfeng Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Fengtai District, Beijing and their h ...

, a title hopeful, could beat (or tie with)

Tianjin TEDA Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

. In the match, Chongqing's supporters cheered for the guest team, Qingdao, and Chongqing Lifan successfully lost to Qingdao Etsong Hainiu 1–3. However,

lost to

in a 1–2 blowout. Tianjin TEDA gained the last seat for the inaugural Chinese Super League and Chongqing Lifan was relegated (although Chongqing was eventually able to qualify for the 2004 CSL by merging with

Yunnan Hongta Yunnan Hongta (Simplified () was a football club who played in the Chinese Jia-A League who were founded by the Shenzhen Kinspar Group in 1996 and named Shenzhen Kinspar (Simplified (). The club predominantly played within the lower leagues unti ...

). Shanghai International finished one point behind the champions

(in 2013, Shenhua were stripped of the title for bribing Lu Jun in the 9 November derby match). In 2012, it was found that in 2003, the then vice president of the Chinese Football Association, Nan Yong, did not want Chongqing Lifan to "lose and qualify" and make the CFA rules a laughing stock. With Nan Yong's help, Tianjin TEDA's club manager, Zhang Yifeng, was able to contact Shanghai International and

Chinese national football team The China national football team (, recognised as China PR by FIFA) represents the People's Republic of China in international association football and is governed by the Chinese Football Association. China won the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2005 ...

player

, who then contacted club and national teammates

and Li Ming. After Shanghai COSCO Sanlin lost to Tianjin TEDA, the four players received 8 million yuan in total. Shen Si was sentenced to six years in prison, the other three were sentenced to five years and six months in prison.

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical vs Shanxi Wosen Luhu in 2006

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical's team leader Yang Xu bribed Wang Pu, the general manager of Shanxi Wosen Luhu.

Guangzhou Pharmaceutical vs Zhejiang Green Town in 2006

With the help of the former CFA League Department official Fan Guangming, and retired

Shandong Luneng Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

player Leng Bo and Xing Rui, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical bribed the players of

, Shen Liuxi and Hu Minghua, with a total amount of 1.5 million yuan.

Qingdao Hailifeng vs Chengdu Blades in 2007

Chengdu Blades Chengdu Tiancheng F.C. () was a Chinese professional football club based in Chengdu, China who last played in the 26,000 seater Shuangliu Sports Center in the China League One division. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly ...

general manager Xu Hongtao and deputy general manager You Ke offered

Qingdao Hailifeng Qingdao Hailifeng F.C. (), previously named Qingdao JVC Zhengyi, Qingdao Benda and Hefei Chuangyi was a former professional association football club in the Chinese Football Association Jia League. The club was engaged in "bribery and private bus ...

with 300,000 yuan and free winter training for a month at Chengdu's base, in exchange with Chengdu's victory of the match.

"Chip Shot Gate" of Qingdao Hailifeng in 2009

In a 2009 match against the bottom-of-the-league

Sichuan F.C. Sichuan Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 四川足球俱乐部) was a professional China, Chinese Association football, football club under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. H ...

were leading 3–0 with 20 minutes left. But having bet before the match that the total number of goals would be at least four, Qingdao Hailifeng's chairman, Du Yunqi, asked the team for another goal into either net. Due to Sichuan's defensive effort, Qingdao was unable to score another goal. In the last minutes, Qingdao players tried three

chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

shots into their own goal. However, due to the goalkeeper Mou Pengfei's two saves on his teammates' shots and with the third attempt going wide, the match ended 3–0. The match was known as "

Chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...

Shot

Gate A gate or gateway is a point of entry to or from a space enclosed by walls. The word derived from old Norse "gat" meaning road or path; But other terms include ''yett and port''. The concept originally referred to the gap or hole in the wall ...

(吊射门)" in China. In 2010, CFA revoked Qingdao Helifeng's league registration. In 2012, Du Yunqi was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Punishment

Clubs

On February 21, 2010, the CFA Disciplinary Committee made preliminary punishment decisions for clubs identified by the Ministry of Public Security Gambling Task Force as being involved in match-fixing cases. *

2009 Chinese Super League The 2009 Chinese Super League season was the sixth season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League, the sixteenth season of a professional football league and the 48th top-tier league season in China. Beijing Guoan won their first eve ...

teams Guangzhou Pharmaceutical and

were relegated to

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

* 2009 China League One team

s league registration was revoked, the club was fined 200,000

On February 18, 2013, the CFA Disciplinary Committee again announced its decision to punish the clubs involved in the match-fixing cases: *

was stripped of the 2003 Chinese Jia-A League champion title and deducted 6 points in the

2013 Chinese Super League The 2013 Chinese Super League was the tenth season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League, the 20th season of a professional football league and the 52nd top-tier league season in China. Guangzhou Evergrande won their third consecuti ...

and fined 1 million

was deducted 6 points in the

and fined 1 million yuan * Yanbian Changbai Tiger was deducted 3 points in the

2013 China League One The 2013 China League One is the tenth season of the China League One, the second tier of the Chinese football league pyramid, since its establishment. Teams Team Changes To League One Teams relegated from 2012 Chinese Super League * H ...

and fined 500,000 RMB *

was fined 1 million RMB *

Changchun Yatai Changchun Yatai Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Changchun, Jilin and their home stadi ...

, Jiangsu Sainty and

Henan Jianye Henan Songshan Longmen Football Club (), previously known as Henan Jianye Football Club (), is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team ...

were fined 500,000 RMB

Individuals

In addition, punishment was imposed on the individuals involved:

Convicted individuals and clubs

CFA officials

Referees

Players and Coaches

Clubs and Staff

* 2003 Chinese Jia-A League * 1999 Chinese football match-fixing scandal

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-2009 Chinese football match-fixing scandals Association football controversies Sports scandals in China 2003 in Chinese football 2004 in Chinese football 2005 in Chinese football 2006 in Chinese football 2007 in Chinese football 2008 in Chinese football 2009 in Chinese football 2010 in Chinese football 2011 in Chinese football 2012 in Chinese football 2013 in Chinese football Chinese Jia-A League China League One Chinese Super League Match fixing