Gong Jianping (; ; July 12, 1960 - July 11, 2004) was a FIFA-ranked international football referee from Beijing, China. As a chief referee for the

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 ...

, he was the only referee charged for corruption in the 2001 match fixing scandals in Chinese Football. Gong Became a referee in 1982. In 2001, he became a FIFA-ranked international football referee and a regular referee for China's

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

and

Jia B 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 ...

League. In 2001, after the 2001 China Jia B League Match Fixing, two clubs, Guangzhou Geely and

Zhejiang Greentown 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 (CF ...

, notified authorities about the corruptions in the football circles. The football association called referees to turn in themselves, and Gong was the only one to confess. He became what many sport insider call "scapegoat" for the power forces behind scenes. Gong was convicted by the Xuanwu District Court for talking a total of 370,000 yuan (44,700 US dollars) between 2000 and 2001, and was sentenced for 10 years of imprisonment. Gong served 18 months before dying of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

.Soccer player kicks game into touch By Qiu Bo,

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

, Nov 3 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:GONG Jianping Sportspeople from Beijing Chinese football referees 1960 births 2004 deaths