China Investigates Official Who Once Met Xi to Talk Soccer

(Bloomberg) -- China has launched an apparent graft inquiry into a top soccer official who once met President Xi Jinping to discuss ways to reform the sport.

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Chen Xuyuan, the head of Chinese Football Association, is being investigated for “serious law and discipline violations,” officials in the province of Hubei said in a statement late Tuesday, using phrasing that usually means corruption is suspected.

Chen, 66, is the highest-ranking football official to come under scrutiny recently for wrongdoing, the latest in a series of setbacks that have plagued the sport in the nation for years.

Liu Yi, former secretary-general of the CFA — a government body that oversees football in China — and his deputy, Chen Yongliang, came under investigation last month. Li Tie, former head coach of the national men’s football team, became the subject of a probe in November.

Chen Xuyuan chatted with Xi about reforming football in China during a legislative session in 2015, the Chinese media outlet Yicai reported at the time. That was the year Xi assigned a Communist Party taskforce led by a vice premier to develop the game in the nation.

Also in 2015, the State Council, the nation’s cabinet, launched a plan to boost funding for the national team, build new training camps and establish 50,000 soccer schools over a decade.

Read: World Cup Has China Lamenting Dismal State of Its Football Dream

That’s yet to translate to success on the pitch, at least for the men’s team. During the World Cup last year, the state-run China Daily newspaper ran a commentary headlined: “Only complete reboot can save Chinese soccer.” So far though China’s men have qualified for just one of the events in its history, stumbling out of the group stage in 2002 with zero goals in three losses.

The women’s team has done much better, and is ranked No. 14 in the world by FIFA. The men’s team is ranked by FIFA at No. 80.

China’s pro teams have also run into difficulty in recent years because the property firms behind them have had cash-flow problems. China Evergrande Group’s team, a once dominant franchise, had to seek government support in 2021.

Chen Xuyuan is the former chairman of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Chen was elected president of the CFA in 2019, partly because the success of a football club the company purchased.

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