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Top China Football Referee Admits Taking Bribes: XINHUA Back To Main

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BEIJING: A top Chinese referee confessed in court on Wednesday to taking bribes for fixing local matches, state media said, amid a series of high-profile corruption hearings involving top football officials.

Lu Jun, who has refereed matches at the World Cup and Olympic Games, told a court in northeastern China that he pocketed 810,000 yuan ($127,786) for fixing seven domestic league games, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The games included four first-division matches in 2003. The report did not say if Lu, nicknamed the “Golden Whistle” by Chinese media because of his successful international career, had been accused of fixing World Cup or Olympic Games matches.

Shanghai Shenhua club — which recently signed a two-year contract with Chelsea star Nicolas Anelka — was also accused of spending 5.5 million yuan to bribe numerous officials and referees, including Lu, the report said.

Corruption hearings against some of China’s top football officials kicked off Monday with Zhang Jianqiang, the former head referee of the Super League, making a court appearance to face charges of accepting match-fixing bribes totalling $409,600.

The latest admission comes after well-known referee Huang Junjie confessed on Tuesday to taking more than $246,000 in bribes for fixing local and international matches between 2005 and 2009, according to Xinhua. About 20 other former officials and referees are to appear in court later this week.