A Chinese police investigation into gambling and game-fixing that has already netted more than a dozen players and officials is now focusing on former Chinese soccer federation head XieYalong.
Nan Yong, who replaced Xie as the federation’s top official in 2009, was among those arrested in the scandal that has included accusations of bribing orthreatening players and referees to fix games the suspects had bet on.
The investigation of Xie is the latest in a push to rid the Chinese game of the taint of cheating and improve thelevel of play following complaints from top government officials.
Former national team coach Wei Shaohui and Li Dongsheng, the former head of thefederation’s referee commission are also under investigation. Soccer is very popular in China but its national team is ranked No. 97 in the world.