Xie Yalong, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, is under investigation on suspicion of manipulating results for purposes of soccer betting, Yangtze Evening News reported yesterday. [Photo: mop.com]

A TOP figure in Chinese soccer is rumored to have accepted millions of yuan in bribes to fix matches and place players on the national team.

Xie Yalong, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, is under investigation on suspicion of manipulating results for purposes of soccer betting, Yangtze Evening News reported yesterday.

The suspect matches extended to league finals, regulation and promotional matches and the National Games, the newspaper said.

In addition, soccer players and managers are said to have paid cash if they wanted to get on the national team, the report said. It was widely accepted that a player would pay about 100,000 yuan (US$14,800) to 300,000 yuan to realize his dream of kicking on behalf of China.

Xie and other senior football officials are also suspected of fixing international matches and friendlies joined by the Chinese national team. They allegedly offered bribes to international referees to manipulate the result for soccer betting.

They are also accused of taking bribes from local football associations to allow them to hold friendly matches, the newspaper said.

Ongoing probe

The allegations were reported amid the ongoing police probe that has netted former senior executives of the country's football governing body as well as players and referees.

Xie Yalong, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, is under investigation on suspicion of manipulating results for purposes of soccer betting, Yangtze Evening News reported yesterday. [Photo: pclady.com.cn]

Xie was taken into custody early this month along with Wei Shaohui, a former leader of the national soccer team, and Li Dongsheng, former director of the association's referee commission, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

At least three championship teams have been questioned by investigators over the allegations, the newspaper said.

According to earlier media reports, senior officials of Chinese Football Association manipulated matches through referees they appointed.

Football clubs offered officials bribes in exchange for scores they demanded. Usually, the schemes involved several officials who shared the bribes after match, the report said.

The investigation has so far netted more than a dozen players and officials, including Nan Yong, the association's former vice chairman who replaced Xie in 2009.