Chinese police have arrested three football referees on suspicion of match-fixing, including one official who presided at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Lu Jun, who had officiated in two World Cup matches, several Asian Football Confederation games and more than 200 Chinese league matches before retiring in 2005, was among those detained for taking bribes, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.
Others reportedly detained were Huang Junjie, a nominee last year for the China Super League's best referee award, and Zhou Weixin, who retired in 2004 after being given an eight-game suspension for a bad call.
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The reports quoted the head of the official football association, Wei Di, as confirming the arrests, but gave no other details.
“I was really shocked and hurt when Lu's name cropped up in the scandal,” Wei was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper.
“He is undoubtedly a first-rate referee in terms of working ability, but his morals are a far cry from his ‘golden whistle' reputation.”
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It wasn't immediately clear what penalties the three referees could face, although another referee, Gong Jianping, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2002 for taking bribes to ensure desired outcomes.
The arrests come amid a sweeping probe into gambling and corruption in the league that has already netted more than a dozen players and officials, including Wei's predecessor, Nan Yong. Two Chinese Super League clubs have been relegated to the second tier for being associated with the corruption.
Facing intense pressure from China's top communist leaders, Wei has sworn to end such malfeasance, but faces institutional hurdles including a lack of transparency, autocratic management, and strong ties between coaches, players and gambling syndicates.
Chinese leaders have linked corruption and poor league management to the lowly state of China's national team, which currently ranks just 83rd in the world.
Media reports quoted Wei as saying the association would step up checks on referees and block attempts to manipulate them by controlling what matches they are assigned to.
“We will adopt a new mechanism to improve our management.
No leader of the Chinese Football Association, including me, can decide which referee to use,” Wei said.
Wei said the new season will have a clean slate when play begins on March 27, with 20 percent of the referees new to the China Super League.