A court in Tieling, Liaoning province, yesterday sentenced a top soccer official and a referee instructor to long jail terms for taking bribes and match-fixing.
The sentencing of Chinese Football Association former deputy head Yang Yimin and Zhang Jianqiang, a referee instructor and former director of the national women's soccer team, brings to 48 the number sentenced in a national crackdown on soccer corruption.
Yang, 56, was sentenced to 10 1/2 years and fined 200,000 yuan (HK$246,000) for accepting 1.25 million yuan in bribes.
His career in sports administration touched almost every aspect of soccer, from organising commercial games and selecting national team players to issuing referee licences and overseeing youth soccer.
These jobs enabled him to elicit bribes from more than 20 individuals and organisations on more than 40 occasions, seeking help or convenience as far back as 1997, the court was told during this trial.
'At first the bribes were 300 yuan or 500 yuan and I declined them all,' he told China Central Television in an earlier interview.