Following the arrests of several top officials of the China Football Association (CFA) on match-fixing and bribe-taking charges, numerous referees have gone missing and are believed to be in police custody, the Beijing Times said. “As far as the problems with referees, this is under investigation and it shows that the football industry is orderly and carrying out efforts to strike at match-fixing and gambling,” the paper quoted new CFA head Wei Di as saying. “We are not afraid of these things coming to light – the important thing now is to find out about these problems.” Wei refused to comment further or confirm which referees had been taken into custody, but state media reported that four top Chinese referees, including one former World Cup and one current international official, have been taken for questioning by police. The Global Times newspaper named the four as Lu Jun, who officiated at the 2002 World Cup finals but is now retired, Huang Junjie, who has been on the FIFA's international list since 1998, women's referee Shen Huangying and Guangdong referee Zhou Weixin. The head of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) Nan Yong and referees committee chief Zhang Jianqiang were arrested last week for their part in the scandal, which has also taken in more than 20 other officials. Lu, 50, earned the nickname “golden whistle” for his reputed integrity after China's “black whistles” match-fixing scandal of the early years of this century. He refereed the group stage match between Poland and the United States and another between Croatia and Mexico at the World Cup Finals in South Korea and Japan eight years ago. Huang, 43, has taken charge of several internationals, including World Cup qualifiers involving Japan and Saudi Arabia. As well as the individual prosecutions, Guangzhou and Chengdu clubs were relegated from the top flight Chinese Super League (CSL), while a second division Qingdao club have been kicked out of professional football altogether for match-fixing. Wei also acknowledged that the widespread and reportedly blatant corruption in China's professional men's league had likely spread to the women's game. “Against the huge background of cracking down on match-fixing and gambling, it is not possible that women's football is a pool of clean water,” Wei said. Press reports said a raft of club officials, coaches and football agents have disappeared into police custody in past months for questioning as the dragnet has widened. Many former national team players could be drawn into the scandal, while at least one current player was involved, reports have said, without naming any names.
