Manchester United has become embroiled in a match-fixing case in China after a leading referee admitted taking a bribe to fix the coin toss for their 2007 friendly against FC Shenzhen in Macau.
Huang Junjie, named on a three-man shortlist for China’s referee of the year in 2009, is standing trial at the Intermediate People’s Court of Dandong in Liaoning Province, where he has admitted taking bribes of more than pounds 163,000.
Huang admitted accepting bribes over two friendlies - United’s 6-0 victory against Shenzhen in July 2007 and a 2009 fixture between Sydney FC and Shanghai Shenhua - and six Chinese club matches between 2005 and 2009.
There is no suggestion of wrong-doing by United or any of their players and the club admitted surprise last night when told of the revelations in China. A United spokesman said: ‘‘We had been unaware of this until now, but if there are any questions to be asked, then we are waiting to be contacted. We do not expect to hear anything, however.’’
United faced Shenzhen at the Macau Stadium on the third leg of the club’s 2007 summer tour of the Far East. They coasted to their victory with goals from Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, John O’Shea, Chris Eagles and Nani, but the key incident happened before a ball had been kicked. Huang has admitted to fixing the coin toss to enable Shenzhen to kick-off, for which he was paid 8000 pounds ($13,000) by fellow referee Zhou Weixin.
Macau, a former Portuguese colony, has become one of the world’s leading centres of gambling - nicknamed the Las Vegas of the East - since returning to Chinese control in December 1999. Huang and Zhou were arrested in March 2010 and Zhou is facing charges of corruption as well as bribing civil servants.
According to reports in China, Huang and Zhou were repeatedly involved in controversial incidents during Chinese Super League fixtures. In 2004, Zhou was given an eight-match suspension by the Chinese Football Association for awarding a contentious penalty against Beijing Guoan in a league game. The Beijing team refused to continue the match and walked off in protest. The -incident led to Zhou being banned for 'misjudgment’. Huang and Zhou are the first referees to face court following a two-year police crackdown on football corruption in China. Lu Jun, a former World Cup referee, will stand trial this week.
Zhang Jianqiang, the former head referee of the Super League, was in court on Monday to face charges of accepting match-fixing bribes totalling 261,000 pounds. Concerns over the extent of match-fixing in China have led to the state television network, CCTV, refusing to broadcast Super League games. Major companies and sponsors have also turned their back on the game, choosing instead to invest money in overseas clubs.
However, there are still huge riches in Chinese football, as was shown this week with news that Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka had signed for Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year deal worth 175,000 pounds a week.
His former team-mate at Chelsea, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Michael Ballack, is also rumoured to be joining the club next season. Didier Drogba, whose contract at Stamford Bridge runs out at the end of the season, has reportedly been offered a three-year deal worth more than 30 million pounds (200,000 a week) - to move to China.