China bans former soccer chiefs for life

The Chinese soccer body on Monday banned two former soccer chiefs for life and meted out heavy punishments on match-fixing clubs, concluding a three-year-long drive to clean up Chinese soccer.

Xie Yalong and Nan Yong, the two former heads of the Chinese soccer administrative center who have been jailed for taking bribes, were among the 58 people punished by the Chinese Football Association's (CFA) discipline commission on Monday afternoon.

Twelve clubs including former league champion Shenhua were slapped with heavy fines or deducted points for next season's league.

Xie, Nan and Yang Yimin, a former CFA deputy head, and World Cup referee Lu Jun were among the 33 people banned from soccer for life.

Former Chinese national team players - Shen Si, Qi Hong, Jiang Jin and Li Ming - all serving a 5-1/2 years jail term for bribe-taking, were also banned for life.

Xu Hong, who recently took the helm of super league club Dalian Arbin, was among the 25 people banned from the game for five years.

The CFA discipline commission imposed a 1 million yuan (160,000 US dollars) fine on super league club Shenhua, which had fixed a game en route to winning the 2003 league title. The Shanghai club was also deducted six points for next season.

Tianjin Teda was fined 1 million yuan and will start next season with minus six points for fixing a 2003 league game against Shanghai International.

Jilin Yanbian was fined 500,000 yuan and deducted three points for throwing a match in 2006.

The discipline committee demanded the three clubs to return the awards they won during the years of wrongdoing, meaning Shenhua would lose its 2003 league title.

Shandong Luneng was fined 1 million yuan, and Changchun Yatai, Jiangsu Shuntin and Henan Jianye each 500,000 yuan for bribery.

The campaign to clean up Chinese soccer, launched in 2009, saw Nan Yong and Xie Yalong jailed for corruption, along with a number of former international footballers and top referees.

Nan and Xie were both given sentences 10 and a half years.

The announcement on punishments came just after Wei Di stepped down as chief of the CFA after a three-year tenure which saw the sport's shameful past of match-fixing and bribery finally tackled.

The 58-year-old Wei was removed over poor results and a need to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

During Wei's tenure, the team failed to reach the 2014 World Cup after finishing third in a group topped by Iraq and Jordan.