More soccer corruption uncovered by authorities

The General Administration of Sport of China vowed to support the fight against corruption in soccer after Du Zhaocai, deputy director of the administration and vice-president of the Chinese Football Association, was placed under investigation by China's top anti-graft bodies over the weekend.

Du, 63, is accused of seriously violating laws and disciplines and is subject to disciplinary review, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission said on Saturday.

In June 2017, Du was appointed as Party chief of the CFA. Since also becoming vice-president in October 2018, he has led soccer-related efforts at the national level, including promoting the sport's development and organizing events. He was also a council member of FIFA, soccer's world governing body, from 2019 until his suspension.

In a meeting on Saturday, CFA officials said they support the decision to fight corruption in soccer.

Recent cases have shown that the fight against corruption in sports administrations remains tough, it added.

The latest battle against corruption and misconduct started after Li Tie, former head coach of the Chinese men's soccer team, was placed under investigation for serious suspected violations of laws and disciplines in November. Since then, eight current and former senior Chinese soccer officials have been placed under investigation.

On Wednesday, former CFA Vice-President Yu Hongchen, who is currently president of the Chinese Athletics Association, and Dong Zheng, former general manager of the Chinese Super League, were also placed under investigation. They were followed on March 24 by Huang Song, head of the CFA's competition management department, and Wang Xiaoping, director of the CFA's disciplinary commission.

In January, anti-graft authorities began investigating Chen Yongliang, the CFA's executive deputy secretary-general, and Liu Yi, the CFA's former secretary-general. The next month, CFA President Chen Xuyuan was also placed under investigation.

On March 27, an inspection of the General Administration of Sport was announced in the list of the first round of routine disciplinary inspections of the CPC Central Committee.

Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the inspection leadership group, said in a statement that the inspections will identify corruption and deep-seated institutional problems in sports, especially soccer.