Posted on: September 11, 2024, 10:15h.
Last updated on: September 11, 2024, 10:36h.
A South Korean international soccer player who was one of 43 people banned by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Tuesday for alleged corruption claims he was threatened by Chinese police into falsely confessing to match-fixing.
During a tearful press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, former Chinese Super League player Son Jun-ho described how he was detained by Chinese authorities in May 2023 as he tried to leave the country. The defensive midfielder, who played three of South Korea’s four matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, wasn’t able to return to his home country until March of this year.
Son was held on “suspicion of accepting bribes by non-state employees” and claimed he was coerced into making a confession.
Threats to Family
“The Chinese police presented ridiculous charges,” he said, as reported and translated by the Associated French Press. “They threatened that if I didn’t admit to the charges, my wife would be arrested through the foreign ministry and brought to the same detention center to be investigated with me.”
Son said his interrogators showed him pictures of his son and daughter, asking, “What did they do to deserve this? If your wife comes here too, how will the kids manage? Don’t you think your children want to see their father?”
Son claims he wasn’t given access to Korean translators or a lawyer and was told that if he admitted guilt, he would be released quickly and reunited with his family.
Overwhelmed with fear and concern for my family, I had no choice but to admit to charges I didn’t even understand, just to return to my family quickly,” Son said, wiping away tears.
He called for Chinese authorities to release audio tapes of the interviews, which he says would prove the confession was coerced.
Scapegoating Fears
Chinese authorities have blamed widespread corruption in soccer for the country’s failure to make its mark on the world stage.
In 2015, President Xi Jinping stated his ambition to revive the fortunes of the men’s national team, which hadn’t qualified for a World Cup since 2002. But despite the billions that have poured into the game since Xi’s proclamation, if anything, the team has deteriorated.
Xi came to power on an anti-graft ticket and his endless anti-corruption drives have permeated every level of society. There’s no doubt that corruption exists in Chinese soccer, but China watchers have speculated that some people may be being scapegoated to spare Xi’s wrath.
Li Tie was one of just a few Chinese players to make it in the English Premier League, and later, managed the Chinese national team. He was sacked in 2021 after failing to qualify for another World Cup. A year later he was arrested for bribery.
This week’s CFA sanctions come just one week after one of China’s most humiliating defeats in the history of its soccer team, a 7-0 drubbing by Japan, one of its biggest sporting and geopolitical rivals.
