By David Gold
February 16 – Former World Cup referee Lu Jun has been sentenced to a five-and-a-half year jail term for involvement in match-fixing in China.
Jun was one of 60 players, referees and coaches on trial following a two year investigation into match fixing in the country.
Twice named referee of the year by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Jun was the first official from China to take charge of a World Cup game in South Korea and Japan 10 years ago.
Jun admitted taking bribes of approximately $130,000 (£82,000/€100,000) to fix seven league games.
Three other referees – Huang Junjie, Wan Daxue and Zhou Weixin – were given jail sentences ranging from three and a half to seven years.
The scandal also involved a number of teams, among them Shanghai Shenhua, who have recently signed Nicolas Anelka from Chelsea.
Match fixing has become a prominent issue in the last year as scandals have emerged across the world, including in Finland, Greece, Italy, Turkey and South Korea.
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