Teenage players of Dongshan Xiaoye. （Photo from CCTV)
(ECNS) -- The football association in the southern Chinese city Guangzhou has banned a teenaged team from playing in the city and suspended a match organizer for three years for match fixing.
The Guangdong Qingmiao and Dongshan Xiaoye teams played a finals match organized by Guangzhou Yida Football Club after each had five wins and one draw over the season.
In the semifinal, Guangdong Qingmiao won by a score of 31-to-0, enabling it to lead Dongshan Xiaoye by a goal difference of 17.
But after giving up two goals in the first half of its semifinal, Dongshan Xiaoye made a surprising comeback against a team called Tikitaka, clinching a 25-to-2 win. A player for Tikitaka even deliberately shot own goals.
Liang Weiming, secretary of the association, said the match breached ethics and violated the spirit of sports.
A coach for Guangdong Qingmiao said his young players were in tears and "were too innocent to accept the lopsided score." The coach also questioned why a game for fun and exchange turned out to be fixed.
A father who spoke on condition of anonymity said he was ashamed to have won the game and found it difficult to explain to his children, though the Tikitaka team was determined to prevent Guangdong Qingmiao's victory.
Guangdong Qingmao reportedly invited well-trained players from a football school to play and trained with a professional coach, while both Tikitaka and Dongshan Xiaoye were trained by parents.
The fixed match happened as the Chinese national team again gave a poor performance, further fueling fans' call for reform.
