Scandal-plagued China football hit by new corruption probes

Football in Xi Jinping’s China has been hit with another scandal involving the chief of discipline and competition of the sport

China’s scandal-plagued football association has been rocked by new corruption probes into its chiefs of discipline and competition.

The Sports Ministry on Friday said Wang Xiaoping, director of the CFA's Disciplinary Committee, and Huang Song, were both “suspected of serious violations” of law and discipline — the government's usual bywords for graft.

Huang was being investigated by the ruling Communist Party’s corruption watchdog, the Sports Ministry’s anti-graft body and by authorities in Hebei province outside Beijing where the national soccer team maintains a training camp, the notice said.

The single-sentence announcements said Wang and Huang were cooperating with investigators but gave no details about the charges against them. Chinese prosecutors have wide powers to hold suspects for lengthy interrogations if state secrets are believed to be involved.

The announcements come barely a month after the head of China’s national football body Chen Xuyuan was arrested on corruption charges.

Chen was head of the Chinese Football Association and vice chair of its party committee, underscoring the government’s heavy hand in attempting to direct success in the game.

China’s increasingly autocratic president and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping declared a plan to make China a football superpower, but funding and enthusiasm have appeared to dwindle. Xi has also made fighting corruption a signature policy, taking down political rivals in the process and further embedding strict policies governing freedom of speech and civil society organizations outside party control.