Sixteen Ex-Players Arrested In Chinese Match Fixing Investigation

The Chinese police have announced the arrest of up to 16 former players, along with club and league officials, as part of a widening probe into rampant match fixing in the country’s professional soccer league. The Ministry of Public Security confirmed the news of the arrests.

Many reports focused on the lurid details of how money was exchanged to fix the outcome of games.

In one instance in August 2006, Yang Xu, general manager of second-tier team Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, was accused of handing 200,000 yuan ($30,000) to his counterpart at rival club Shanxi Wellsend, Wang Po, to ensure a win for Guangzhou. Shanxi players were instructed to lose by a wide margin. The game ended in a 5-1 win for Guangzhou.

The reports said Wang Po and another manager, Wang Xin, allegedly bet on the game with an overseas soccer gambling website. But their alleged winnings of just 100,000 yuan ($15,000) suggest Wang Po was acting on behalf of a larger syndicate that had put up the money for the original bribe.

The investigation was reportedly aided by the arrest of Wang Xin in Liaoning back in April 2009 after he fled Singapore amid an investigation into match fixing in the southeast Asian city state.