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FIFA ratifies Chinese match-fixing bans

FIFA said it acted after the discipinary committee of China’s Football Association (CFA) gave five-year bans to 25 people having earlier this month handed life bans down to 33 people in the wake of China’s biggest ever match-fixing scandal.

Those hit by the first wave of CFA bans included former heads of the Football Association Nan Yong and Xie Yalong, who were previously handed jail sentences for taking bribes, and Xu Hong, the newly installed head of east China club Dalian Aerbin.

FIFA said it accepted the findings of the Chinese investigation and would implement the bans across the world.

The sanctions come after a two-year Chinese judicial investigation into incidents of match-fixing in the 1990s and early 2000s.

FIFA said in a statement that the CFA had notified it of its findings and sanctions and also “emphasised its on-going commitment to stamping out all forms of match-fixing and corruption in the game”.

Corruption in football has undermined the reputation of China’s flagship Super League and several recent high-profile arrivals such as Didier Drogba have returned to Europe.