Chinese Super League chairman taken away for investigation, state media reports, as football crackdown continues
- The news comes weeks after former national team coach Li Tie was charged with corruption offences
- It also follows the former chief of China’s Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics delegation being placed under investigation for suspected corruption
Liu Jun, the chairman of football’s Chinese Super League, has been taken away by the authorities for investigation, state-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.
The report did not give further details on the investigation and the Chinese Football Association has yet to comment.
Li, a former English Premier League player with Everton, is one of several top football association officials to fall under graft probes since November as the ruling Communist Party wages a sport-wide anti-corruption drive.
China also said on Saturday that the former chief of its Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics delegation was under investigation for suspected corruption. Ni Huizhong “is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law”, the General Administration of Sport said.
The news about Liu comes in another troubled week for Chinese football.
On Monday, investors in Chinese Super League (CSL) champions Wuhan Three Towns told the club they were prepared to give it away for nothing after announcing that they would withdraw funding at the end of the month.
Wuhan said in a statement that they had received a letter from the unnamed investors stating they would no longer fund the organisation from September 1 but would ensure “the club has zero debt on the date of stopping the investment”.
An emergency meeting was held to discuss efforts to ensure the club would continue to honour playing commitments until the end of the CSL season.
They won the league title last season for the first time and are due to be one of China’s three representatives in the AFC Champions League, which starts on September 18.
Wuhan are sixth in this season’s standings, 14 points behind leaders Shanghai Port with six games remaining.
The club’s issues come with Chinese football continuing to struggle financially as a result of the country’s economic slowdown following the Covid-19 pandemic and difficulties experienced by the property development sector.
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Jiangsu shut down three months after lifting the 2020 domestic title when owners Suning Holdings Group announced they were pulling their funding.
Twice Asian champions Guangzhou were relegated last year due to the financial challenges faced by owners China Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developers. The club previously won eight CSL titles in nine seasons until 2017.
Guangzhou had led the spending spree during which China became a prime destination for foreign players and coaches, with the club signing World Cup winners Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari to lead them to the continental title.
