[Alleged match-fixing fiasco, Chinese Super League and Chinese A League in doubt]
The two matches between Wuhan Zall and Tianjin Quanjian in the 2019 Chinese Super League (CSL) generated a lot of attention, with one ending 2-1 and the other 1-3, while Wuhan Zall's 4-4 draw with another team was equally dubious. According to Ran Xiongfei, Wuhan Zall's performance that year was up and down, from beating Guangzhou Evergrande to defeating Tianjin Quanjian to drawing with another team, which was unbelievable.
Who could have expected such a score trend? It is reported that Tianjin Quanjian and the executives of a southern team had teamed up to extend the "olive branch" to Li Tie, proposed the use of money or player transactions, with the intention of letting Li Tie "concessions" at least one goal. The result was a 3-1 win for Quanjian and a 4-4 "crazy" score for the other game.
In 2019, Wuhan Zall were allegedly involved in match-fixing against Tianjin Quanjian and another team in consecutive matches, an incident that is just the tip of the iceberg in the Chinese Super League investigation. Li Tie was also allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal back in 2015 when he was coaching Hebei Huaxia Happiness. At that time, the Dalian Football Association had drafted two whistleblower letters alleging that Hebei Huaxia Happiness had bought out their opponents to play match-fixing matches in the last five rounds. As a coach, Li Tie's role and contribution came into focus.
[Chinese soccer suffers as suspicion of match-fixing looms]
If the eight suspected match-fixing matches mentioned above are indeed true, it will undoubtedly be a heavy blow to Chinese soccer. Ran Xiongfei predicted that in the future there may be more players related to the "former Jianlibao system" under investigation, including Li Tie's assistant coach Zheng Bin, Ma Yongkang, as well as Li Tie's former teammates Li Jinyu, Li Weifeng, Hao Wei, Tao Wei, Zhang Xiaorui, Huang Yong and so on.
These familiar names are embarrassing. Li Jinyu, Li Weifeng, Hao Wei and Zhang Xiaorui are all legends of Chinese soccer, and Hao Wei is the head coach of Shandong Taishan. He just led his team to a 2-3 loss in the Chinese Super League. Will the Li Tie incident affect him? It's worrying.
These players have made great contributions to Chinese soccer and won numerous honors, whether they worked on the pitch or at their clubs. It would be a shame for Chinese soccer if they suffered injustice even after their retirement. This means that those national team players who were on the stage of the 2002 World Cup may have become the face of match-fixing.
We look forward to the innocence of the above people. Ran Xiongfei warned not to easily get involved with Li Tie and others, or else you will easily be drawn into the abyss.
What is the truth? Fans all over the country are waiting for the answer. We expect the relevant authorities to promote the anti-gambling and anti-triad wave to save Chinese soccer. If this situation is allowed to develop, Chinese soccer will not be revived.
