Catching up: Chinese soccer scandal saga
Friday, 26th February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
A win over South Korea was a rare bit of good news for Chinese soccer
China's domestic soccer and basketball leagues are notoriously corrupt. Match-fixing is just one symptom of a system that's completely broken. In January, officials launched a purge of the national soccer league and national team. Among the more incredible developments was the revelation that players had actually bribed their way into national team tryouts. I apologize for not having brought you more updates on this crazy story. Here is a link to a Global Times editorial by Beijing native David Yang on the toxic effect that corruption has on sports.
The dragnet has already netted more than 100 players, coaches and officials (including the sport's top official), and spawned some shocking anecdotes (though probably not so shocking to anyone who closely follows the league). Earlier this week, the Chinese Football Association disqualified Qingdao Hailifeng for trying to score on itself to fatten the team president's gambling wins. You have to read it to believe it, but basically it looks like this: With his team up 3-0, team president Du realizes one more goal for either team will increase his winnings on an international betting Web site. He puts a call in to coach Du, who sends a text message to a player on the field, who rallies the support of two teammates. They try, but fail, to score on their own goal (diagram from a Chinese newspaper, with translations, from Danwei).
I remember when I first arrived in China, and my friends here would gripe: "1.3 billion people and we can't find 11 to field a decent football team." The reason why has only become more evident the longer I am here. And it's well known that the problem isn't isolated to soccer. In an editorial cartoon in a recent issue of Titan Sports News, a figure representing Chinese Basketball hid behind one representing Chinese Soccer. He wore a grin and the bubble above his head read: "They can't see me here behind Soccer."
It's much too early to tell if efforts to clean up the sport will actually bring the payola to a halt and improve the now atrocious level of play, but a couple of good pieces of news must give some hope to China's frustrated fans. China won the East Asian Football Championship about two weeks ago (2-0 over Hong Kong, 0-0 tie with Japan, 3-0 win over South Korea); and Beijing Guo'an, reigning CFA champs and one of few domestic sports teams with a passionate fan base, beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 in a match at the Workers' Stadium just a few days ago.
China-Korea soccer/football image: QQ.com
Tags: Beijing Guo'an, CFA, football, soccer
Ugliness and Grumbling
Tuesday, 21st April 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Chinese Football Association embarrassed itself yet again by sending professionals to play in the International School Sports Federation's World Schools Championship. A bunch of women who play in the CFA suited up for China's Chongqing Daping, beating the girls from Germany just 8-6 in the final. The CFA claims it had nothing to do with this, but given the amount of control that Chinese sports administrations and teams exercise over athletes, it is impossible that these women snuck off to Turkey to play in the tournament.
Tennis player speaks out against state system
Tennis player Li Na called for other athletes to enjoy the freedom that has recently been extended to China's tennis players. She and Zheng Jie have both improved their rankings since the Chinese Tennis Association has freed them to determine their training schedules and keep more of their winnings.
Tags: CFA, cheating, football, Li Na, soccer, state sports administration, tennis, Zheng Jie
Titan front page: World Cup, Nadal win and Phelps' bong hits
Tuesday, 3rd February 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Titan Sports newspaper returned to production Monday after taking a break during the Chinese New Year holiday. Page one of its first issue of the year of the ox had three stories: news that the Chinese Football Association will not bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups; Nadal's Australian Open win; and the Michael Phelps bong hit photo story.
Titan Sports is China's leading sports newspaper, putting out issues every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It is published jointly by Hunan Art and Culture Publishing House and Titan Publishing House (Danwei).
Tags: CFA, football, Michael Phelps, Rafael Nadal, soccer, swimming, tennis, Titan front page, Titan sports, World Cup