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Chinese Football Association (CFA)
SportChina

Chinese sports couple Hao Haidong and Ye Zhaoying face being wiped from record books after political appeal

  • Hao was the best known striker in China before his retirement in 2007 after playing in England with Sheffield United
  • Ye is a two-time badminton world champion and Sydney Olympics bronze medallist

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Hao Haidong (left) plays for Hong Kong when as a representative team takes on La Liga giants Real Madrid in 2003 as part of the Sars relief campaign. Photo: SCMP
Chan Kin-wa
China’s all-time record goalscorer Hao Haidong and his wife Ye Zhaoying, an ex-badminton world champion, both face being wiped from the country’s record books after denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and announcing an intention to overthrow the government.

The 50-year-old retired striker, who scored 41 goals for his country between 1992 and 2004, and Ye, 46, married last summer.

Ye once mentioned on her Weibo account that she played for a badminton club in Spain in 2018 and it is believed the couple now lives in the country where Hao’s son once played for Granada’s B team.

Following their stunning political stand, both of their Weibo accounts have been removed from the platform, and the two major online sports portals in China – Sina Sports and Tencent Sports – made no mention of the couple’s political appeal. Sina no longer yields a single search result for Hao nor Ye.

Retired sports couple Hao Haidong and his wife Ye Zhaoying stun the sporting world by making a political appeal on June 4. Photo: Handout
Retired sports couple Hao Haidong and his wife Ye Zhaoying stun the sporting world by making a political appeal on June 4. Photo: Handout

In an interview posted to the YouTube account of the US-based Rule of Law Foundation following the release of the manifesto, Hao, who started his career with the Liberation Army team Bayi at the age of 10, slammed the football business in China. “Football in China is a reflection of the country,” Hao said. “It’s not the players that make it worse, it’s the bureaucrats that damage the whole business by ignoring the rules.”

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