Society

Chinese football club disqualified for march cheat

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-24 23:03
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BEIJING: Chinese police said Wednesday the boss of a football club in Qingdao of eastern Shandong Province was found to have asked players to manipulate the result of a match last September to help him win a bet, which ended in the players trying to shoot an own goal.

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The revelation came a day after the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced disciplinary measures for three clubs caught match-fixing and bribery.

Qingdao Hailifeng, a second division team involved in the September fraud, was disqualified entirely and fined 200,000 yuan (about 29,000 US dollars), the CFA said.

Du Yunqi, chairman of Hailifeng, gambled online near the end of a match between his team and a team from southwest Sichuan Province on September 2, 2009 that the scores would change, police said.

The players' unusual behavior aroused much controversy after a video clip of the match was put on the Internet. Du went missing when police started investigating the case. He and Du Bin, captain of the team in the September match, have been arrested.