Xi Jinping wants to turn his country into a soccer giant. But many fans think the sport is letting the country down
football is letting China down
. Their mood could hardly be more sour. At the finals of the football World Cup, which were held late last year in Qatar, China’s team was absent yet again. It has qualified to take part only once, in 2002, and even then was knocked out after losing all three of its matches without scoring a goal. Now the sport is under another dark cloud thanks to a series of arrests at the highest levels of its administration.
The first high-level target was Li Tie, a former head coach of the men’s national team, who was arrested in November. In January two more were taken into custody: Liu Yi, who had just been replaced as secretary-general of the Chinese Football Association , and Chen Yongliang, a serving senior manager of the’s president. On February 14th the government agency in charge of sports said Mr Chen was being investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law”.
No details of any alleged offences have been released. But Chinese football is notorious for corruption involving match-fixing and “black whistles”, as bent referees are known. State media are comparing this campaign with another big anti-graft effort in 2009 that led to the jailing of severalchiefs, referees, coaches and players. It also prompted much soul-searching about the root causes of the malaise. Many blamed excessive involvement by officials in a cash-flush business.
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