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Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Another top soccer boss thought to be detained
The top commercial official for the scandal-plagued Chinese Super League has disappeared and may have been detained for investigation, according to media reports.
The top commercial official for the scandal-plagued Chinese Super League has disappeared and may have been detained for investigation, according to media reports.
Speculation that Lu Feng, the general manager of the league’s administrative company, was in detention spread rapidly in football circles after he could not be contacted at the weekend. Several mainland newspapers reported yesterday that Lu’s mobile phone had been switched off since Saturday.
Officials subject to shuanggui, a form of disciplinary investigation against suspected corrupt officials within the Communist Party, have all their communication with the outside world cut off.
Lu is the latest high-level official to be embroiled in allegations of widespread corruption in the national soccer competition.
Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, both former vice-chairmen of Chinese Football Association (CFA), have been arrested in a sweeping clampdown on endemic football-related corruption, including match-fixing, underground gambling and bribing of referees.
Guangzhou-based newspaper Information Times quoted Dong Hua, a press official with CFA, as saying he had not been able to reach Lu.
Likening Lu’s sudden disappearance to those of Nan and Yang before their formal arrests, the paper also cited a CFA staffer as saying he had last seen Lu on Friday and had not been able to contact him since then.
Li Chengpeng, one of the mainland’s best-known soccer columnists, said yesterday he had urged his readers to watch developments at the Chinese Super League, and to wait for a police announcement.
Nan was reported to have exploited his position and power at the CFA to clear the way for his protege Lu to take over the running of the super league company.
Days after Nan’s detention, Lu distanced himself from the crackdown when he was approached by mainland journalists, saying: “I certainly know you are calling to see whether I’ve got into trouble. I’m okay.”
Widely regarded as a capable but low-profile official, Lu had managed to secure Italian tyre maker Pirelli as the main sponsor for the Chinese Super League for three years despite difficulties getting sponsors because of the global economic downturn last year.
Lu had said speculation that Pirelli might pull the plug on the sponsorship because of the soccer corruption scandal was groundless.
As the top league in China, the Chinese Super League last year commanded a television audience of 190 million, while the number of fans watching matches in the stadiums totalled more than 3.91 million.
NetEase, one of the mainland’s biggest news portals, last Monday carried a report quoting Lu as saying: “We are communicating with our commercial sponsors, who support the police crackdown on the nationwide underground soccer gambling. They will undoubtedly have more confidence in their investment in the wake of the series of operations which will make the league cleaner.”
But with Lu’s suspected detention, the view for sponsors is inevitably gloomier.
Meanwhile, the former president of Shanxi Guoli Football Club, Li Zhimin, had been taken away and placed under investigation, Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News reported.
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Another top soccer boss thought to be detained
Choi Chi-yuk
01 February 2010
The top commercial official for the scandal-plagued Chinese Super League has disappeared and may have been detained for investigation, according to media reports.
Speculation that Lu Feng, the general manager of the league’s administrative company, was in detention spread rapidly in football circles after he could not be contacted at the weekend. Several mainland newspapers reported yesterday that Lu’s mobile phone had been switched off since Saturday.
Officials subject to shuanggui, a form of disciplinary investigation against suspected corrupt officials within the Communist Party, have all their communication with the outside world cut off.
Lu is the latest high-level official to be embroiled in allegations of widespread corruption in the national soccer competition.
Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, both former vice-chairmen of Chinese Football Association (CFA), have been arrested in a sweeping clampdown on endemic football-related corruption, including match-fixing, underground gambling and bribing of referees.
Guangzhou-based newspaper Information Times quoted Dong Hua, a press official with CFA, as saying he had not been able to reach Lu.
Likening Lu’s sudden disappearance to those of Nan and Yang before their formal arrests, the paper also cited a CFA staffer as saying he had last seen Lu on Friday and had not been able to contact him since then.
Li Chengpeng, one of the mainland’s best-known soccer columnists, said yesterday he had urged his readers to watch developments at the Chinese Super League, and to wait for a police announcement.
Nan was reported to have exploited his position and power at the CFA to clear the way for his protege Lu to take over the running of the super league company.
Days after Nan’s detention, Lu distanced himself from the crackdown when he was approached by mainland journalists, saying: “I certainly know you are calling to see whether I’ve got into trouble. I’m okay.”
Widely regarded as a capable but low-profile official, Lu had managed to secure Italian tyre maker Pirelli as the main sponsor for the Chinese Super League for three years despite difficulties getting sponsors because of the global economic downturn last year.
Lu had said speculation that Pirelli might pull the plug on the sponsorship because of the soccer corruption scandal was groundless.
As the top league in China, the Chinese Super League last year commanded a television audience of 190 million, while the number of fans watching matches in the stadiums totalled more than 3.91 million.
NetEase, one of the mainland’s biggest news portals, last Monday carried a report quoting Lu as saying: “We are communicating with our commercial sponsors, who support the police crackdown on the nationwide underground soccer gambling. They will undoubtedly have more confidence in their investment in the wake of the series of operations which will make the league cleaner.”
But with Lu’s suspected detention, the view for sponsors is inevitably gloomier.
Meanwhile, the former president of Shanxi Guoli Football Club, Li Zhimin, had been taken away and placed under investigation, Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News reported.
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