In China, 16 people, including participants and management officials, were punished for match-fixing in a youth soccer match in which players under the age of 15 played.
The China Football Association posted on its website that the fact of match-fixing was confirmed in the final of the Guangdong Under-15 Youth Football Championship held in August.
The Football Association added that a total of 16 people involved in the incident, including Wang Yuping, party secretary and director of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, and Guangzhou Football Association president Siezguang, were dismissed from their positions.
At the time, the Guangzhou City national team beat the Qingyuan City national team 5-3 to win the tournament, but suspicions of match-fixing have been raised since then.
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The Qingyuan team was leading 3-1 until the 20th minute of the second half, but the coach substituted a player, and after this player whispered to a colleague, the Guangzhou team scored 4 goals in a row and lost the reverse.
The Qingyuan team's goalkeeper kicked the ball to the Guangzhou team player in front of him and conceded a goal, while the defenders stood motionless, causing controversy. Eventually, match-fixing was admitted after four months.
In China, since 2010, the government has mobilized public power to investigate soccer match-fixing issues and punish those involved, but incidents involving clubs, referees, and players are recurring from time to time.
Former head coach and coaching staff of the current World Cup team are also being investigated by the Communist Party's Supervisory Commission for match-fixing charges.
(Photo = Pengpai Newspaper/Weibo capture, Yonhap News)