🇨🇳 Will Chinese football ever recover from an unprecedented corruption scandal?
13 Chinese Super League teams will start the 2026 season on minus points!
Only a few weeks ago, Shanghai Port were celebrating a third successive Chinese Super League title. Now, they are fighting to save their reputation.
Port were one of 13 Chinese clubs sanctioned on match-fixing and corruption charges last week. Nine of those clubs are in the CSL, making this an epidemic for the sport in the country.
Points deductions, lifetime bans and fines were handed out by the Chinese Football Association (CFA).
The 2026 CSL campaign kicks off in a month, but supporters would be forgiven for staying away until they can trust what they’re watching. The whole season could be derailed.
How can Chinese football possibly recover from this? How did it get to this point?
