Ex-Chinese football chiefs given life bans, Shenhua hit

Two former Chinese soccer chiefs have been banned for life after they were jailed in June for accepting bribes while Shanghai Shenhua have been hit by a points deduction for next season, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

Nan Yong, the former head of Chinese soccer, was sentenced to 10 and a half years for taking bribes worth more than 1.48 million yuan while his predecessor Xie Yalong received an identical sentence and was also fined 200,000 yuan.

In total 58 people have been punished by the Chinese Football Association's (CFA) discipline commission, concluding a three-year long push to clean up rampant corruption in the sport.

Former CFA deputy head Yang Yimin and World Cup referee Lu Jun, once hailed as China's "Golden Whistle", were among 33 people banned from soccer for life.

Four former Chinese national team players Shen Si, Qi Hong, Jiang Jin and Li Ming, all jailed for up to six years in June for match-fixing, were also handed life bans.

Super league club Shenhua, who recently lost big name strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka to Galatasaray and Juventus, were fined one million yuan and deducted six points for next season for fixing a game in their 2003 league-winning campaign.

The CFA have said Shenhua will lose their 2003 title as a result.