Graft eats at Chinese soccer

It just seems to go from bad to worse for soccer in China. Former soccer boss Xie Yalong and two other Chinese Football Association (CFA) officials being taken into police custody has further fueled the belief that the game in this country is rotten to the core.

Thorough restructuring and an all-round reform of the game's organization are badly needed if China wants to achieve even an iota of success internationally.

The latest trio makes it a total of nine CFA officials who have been arrested on corruption charges or are being investigated in the past 10 months. Xie is also the second former CFA head, after Nan Yong, to be involved in the anti-corruption sweep as a maelstrom of scandal has engulfed the country's soccer circles.