For a week, New York will be center of money-focused fight to slow climate change
Hungarian intelligence agency interviewed CEO linked to exploding Hezbollah pagers
Son of Uganda's president ends 2026 election bid
Hundreds of parachutists drop over Dutch heath to commemorate World War II operation
An Israeli strike on a school kills at least 22 people, Gaza Health Ministry says
US election uncertainty clouds UN climate finance progress
Seal marks her 50th birthday at a sanctuary. Sheba may be the oldest in captivity
Jackson marks 50th appearance for Chelsea with 2 goals in 3-0 win at West Ham
Oktoberfest is open. The world’s largest folk festival begins after ceremonial keg-tapping
Low brow and vulgar? Micro dramas shake up China's film industry, aim for Hollywood
DALIAN, China (AP) — China’s Football Association has banned 43 people for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption in the latest effort to weed out graft in the country’s notoriously underperforming team sport.
The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday reported that Zhang Xiaopeng, a top police official, attended a news conference at Dalian to release details of a “two-year investigation that uncovered a series of online gambling, match-fixing and bribery cases.”
Xinhua said 120 matches in domestic leagues, 128 criminal suspects, and 41 clubs were implicated in the investigation. Of those banned, 38 were players and five were officials working for various clubs.
Former Chinese internationals Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, and Gu Chao were among those to receive life bans from the sport.
Other players and officials were given shortened bans, including foreign players lured to China by the promise of high salaries.
South Korean Son Jun-ho, who played for China’s Shandong Taishan FC, and Ewolo Donovan of Cameroon, who formerly played for Heilongjiang Ice City, were given five-year bans.
Son’s activities “seriously violated sports ethics and sportsmanship, causing a significant negative impact on society,” according to the federation’s statement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to make China a football superpower, but the men's teams haven't found much traction. Pledges to build new pitches and hire staff have fallen short as the economy struggles to regain its feet following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan trounced China 7-0 last week to open the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. It was China’s most lopsided loss against Japan, a geopolitcal rival in Asia.
The Chinese men's team was playing Saudi Arabia at Dalian later Tuesday in its second World Cup qualifier in five days.
China still has a shot at reaching the expanded, 48-team World Cup in 2026, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. But even with the larger field, China still might not make it past the continental qualifying stage.
China has qualified only once for the World Cup. losing all three group games in 2002.
China was No. 87 in the latest FIFA world rankings for men’s national teams, just below Curaçao (population 150,000), and just above Equatorial Guinea (1.7 million).
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
