China News: Xi Jinping's dream of making China a global power in football suffered a blow

Alleged corruption at the top level of football in China has come to the fore. After this, President Xi Jinping's dream of his country becoming a global power in this game is not being fulfilled at the moment. He is a big fan of football and wants his country to host the game one day and also win the World Cup.

A few years ago Chinese clubs made headlines for spending huge sums on foreign players. But, due to the financial crisis and zero covid policy, these clubs were closed.

Anti-corruption campaign on domestic sports

Now President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign has targeted domestic sports. At least four key officials have been under investigation since November. Prominent among them is Chen Juyuan, head of the Chinese Football Association (CFA). He is being investigated this week for 'serious breaches of discipline and the law', according to a statement from the state sports agency.

The campaign will have a big impact

Former national team coach and Premier League footballer Lee Tye also came under scrutiny last year. "This is the biggest ever corruption investigation into the sport of football in China," said William Bee, a sports consultant in Beijing. He said the impact of the campaign could be bigger than the corruption scandal a decade ago, which exposed match-fixing, bribery, and gambling.

China could not qualify for the World Cup in 2022

Former Shanghai dockworker Chen came to lead the CFA on a promise to launch a 'new image' for Chinese football and rein in excessive spending and poor financial management. However, the turnaround was slow and the national team's poor performance failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. So, due to the dismal performance, Lee lost his job.

Qualified for the World Cup only once in 2002

China, ranked 79th in the world, has qualified for the World Cup only once, in 2002. However, China lost all three matches and failed to score. The 45-year-old Lai is one of China's most capped international players. According to official announcements, he became the subject of a corruption investigation in November before two other senior CFA officials, Chen Yongliang and Liu Yi, came under scrutiny in January.

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