China slaps lifetime football bans on 43 over gambling, match-fixing

BEIJING: Chinese football banned 43 people for life on Tuesday over alleged gambling and match-fixing, including three former China internationals and South Korean World Cup player Son Jun-ho, state media said.

Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has deepened a crackdown on corruption in Chinese sports in recent years, especially football, and jailed numerous top officials. Xi is a self-confessed football fanatic who has said he dreams of China hosting and winning the World Cup.

But that ambition appears further away than ever after repeated corruption scandals and years of disappointing results on the pitch. The banned 43 were mostly players who were among a total of 128 people implicated in a two-year probe into illegal gambling and match-fixing in the domestic game, China´s public security ministry said, according to state media.

The news came hours before a home 2026 World Cup qualifier between China and Saudi Arabia and less than a week after the national team suffered a humiliating 7-0 defeat to rivals Japan.

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) accused Son, who played for Shandong Taishan in the Chinese Super League, of participating in match-fixing and taking bribes. The international midfielder, who appeared in three of South Korea´s four matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, returned to South Korea in March after being held in China since May 2023.

Beijing said at the time that he was detained “on suspicion of accepting bribes by non-state employees”, without providing details. A representative for the 32-year-old Son, who now plays in South Korea´s top domestic league, told Yonhap News Agency they were “bewildered” by the allegations and that Son would hold a news conference to address the claims. Also banned from Chinese football for life is Jin Jingdao, another former Shandong Taishan player, and fellow Chinese internationals Guo Tianyu and Gu Chao.