China arrests three top referees over match-fixing

Mar 17, 2010, 4:10 GMT

Beijing - Chinese police have arrested three top football referees on corruption charges in the latest chapter in a match-fixing scandal that has already led to the punishment of clubs, officials and former players, state media said on Wednesday.

Those arrested included Lu Jun, once known as Chinese football's 'golden whistle,' who officiated at the World Cup finals in 2002 and was twice named the Asian Football Confederation's referee of the year.

Lu, Zhou Weixin and Huang Junjie were all charged with accepting bribes for influencing matches in the Chinese football league, Wei Di, the head of the Chinese Football Association, told a local sports newspaper.

'I was really shocked and hurt when Lu's name cropped up in the scandal,' Wei was quoted as saying.

Lu, 51, refereed more than 200 Chinese football league matches from 1991 to 2005, and was named the league's best referee of its first decade, the China Daily newspaper said.

Huang was nominated for the 'best referee' title in last season's Chinese Super League, while Zhou had resigned in 2004 after he was suspended for a 'misjudgment,' the newspaper said.

'We don't know what sentences they will get, but we can see these referees must have contributed to the problem of match fixing and manipulation,' Wei was quoted as saying.

Last month, China's football authorities announced the relegation of two top teams from the Chinese Super League after finding them guilty of match-fixing.

The continuing investigation into match-fixing has also implicated the former head of the Chinese Football Association and two other senior officials.

Police have detained dozens of people, including several players and officials, over the last four months.

Chinese football has been badly affected by crowd trouble, gambling and match-fixing allegations for at least a decade.

Allegations of corruption in Chinese football have driven fans away and many of those who continue to go to matches often chant 'black whistle' every time a referee makes a dubious decision in favour of an opposing team.

In the highest-profile case, in 2003 a Beijing court sentenced former international football referee Gong Jianping to 10 years in prison after convicting him of accepting bribes.