China bans 43 soccer players and officials for life for match-fixing

A wide-ranging investigation found that 120 matches had been fixed.

BANNED: Jin Jingdao of China during a World cup qualifier in 2021. Pic: Mohamed Farag/Getty Images

The Chinese Football Association has banned for life 38 soccer players and five club officials after a two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling, as part of a crackdown on corruption in one of China's most popular sports.

The investigation found that 120 matches had been fixed, with 41 football clubs involved, Zhang Xiaopeng, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Security, told a press conference in Dalian, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.