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The new season of the Chinese football league will start soon. Just a year ago, several prestigious officials and referees were caught in match fixing scandals. And the investigation is still going on. CCTV reporter Wang Tao reviews two of the big cases.
October 2, 2004. Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
In the 14th round of the Chinese Super League, Shenyang Jinde was enjoying a home advantage against Beijing Hyundai.
At the 80th minute, the visitors stopped play to protest a controversial penalty. The on-field strike lasted over ten minutes, until head referee Zhou Weixin blew the whistle to end the match.
But Shenyang still won. And 200,000 yuan was transferred to Zhou's account.
Zhou said, "The man was the leader and head coach of Shenyang Jinde. He called me and wanted me to give favor his his team since it was a critical match."
The China Football Association penalized Zhou and banned him from the following matches.
But he's just one referee involved of match fixing. There's also Lu Jun, an international referee with a reputation for being one of the best.
In November 2003, Lu Jun refereed a decisive match between Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai International, in China's Divison A League.
A 4-1 victory put Shenhua ahead Shanghai International in the league table.
Lu Jun later admitted trying to boost Shenhua players by going easy on them.
He said before the match, he got the hint from Zhang Jianqiang, the then president of the Referee Board. And the payoff was handsome.
Lu Jun said, "It was two weeks later. I went to Zhang Jianqiang's office, and he gave me 350,000 yuan."
The scandals also extend to football officials, including Nan Yong, Yang Yimin, and Xie Yalong, all former CFA vice presidents.
The sport's insiders called for an anti-corruption supervision mechanism to guard against match-fixing and gambling.