CFA Strictly Punishes Five Class1-B TeamsChinese Football Association (CFA) October 16 announced the decision on meting out a punishment to five Class1-B soccer teams-Sichuan Mianyang, Chengdu Wuniu, Changchun Yatai, Jiangsu Shuntian, and Zhejiang Lucheng, for their serious violation of the spirit of fair sports competition in Class1-B league matches.CFA said that at the zero hour of Chinese national soccer team striving for World Cup Qualifiers, the five teams seriously violated the spirit of fair sports competition, tarnished the image of Chinese profession soccer league match, and caused very bad influence in society. CFA's punishments are as follows: 1. Disqualify all Class1-B teams from upgrading into Class1-A except the Shanghai Zhongyuan Huili team. 2. Withdraw the 2002 registration qualifications and 2002/2003 club-transferring qualifications of all players who have taken part in matches of Chengdu Wuniu vs Sichuan Mianyang on September 29, Jiangsu Shuntian vs Chengdu Wuniu on October 6, and Zhejiang Lucheng vs Changchun Yatai on October 6. 3. Deprive the five teams of their rights to introduce Chinese players for Class 1-A and Class 1-B league matches in 2002 and 2003. 4. Stop work of the five teams' Chinese head coaches for one year who led their teams in the said three matches. 5. Disqualify the Sichuan Mianyang team from playing 2002 national Class1 league matches and downgrade it to a B-level team. In addition, the five punished teams must launch three-month-long internal rectification as of October 16 and report rectification results to CFA before January 15, 2001. Then CFA will decide whether the said teams be allowed to take part in Class1-A and Class-B league matches in 2002 in light of their actual conditions. Meanwhile, CFA will reserve the right to conduct further investigations on and deal with punished players and coaches. By PD Online Staff Huang Ying |
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