Head of Taiwan's football association accused of game-fixing
2015/04/22 22:04:56
Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Lin Cheng-yi (林振義), president of the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA, 中華民國足球協會), has been accused of game fixing in the first round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
Next Magazine reported Wednesday that Lin had rigged the first game Taiwan played in the first round of regional qualifying matches, leading to a 1-0 loss to Brunei and a NT$40 million (US$1.29 million) gain for Lin.
Lin directed the Taiwan team's head coach Chen Kuei-jen (陳貴人) to leave out one of the top players, Turkish-born Chu En-le (朱恩樂), who is now a naturalized Taiwanese citizen, the tabloid reported.
Taiwan lost that match to Brunei at Kaohsiung National Stadium on March 12 but came back on March 17 to score a 2-0 victory over Brunei in their second encounter and thus advance to the second round of World Cup Asian qualifiers.
Chu, whose original name is Onur Dogan, headed the ball into the net in the second half of the game to score the decisive goal for Taiwan.
Commenting on the news report, Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌), head of the competitive athletics division of the National Sports Administration, said he had spoken with Chen, who assured him that there was no game fixing in the matches. Chen said Lin phoned him before the start of the first match to wish the team luck and encourage the players to strive hard for a win, Hung related.
Chen said Lin did not give any instructions to keep Chu out of the match, Hung added.
Huang said, however, that he will respect any decision by prosecutors to launch a probe into the matter.
Playing under the name Chinese Taipei, the Taiwan team will meet Japan, South Korea and China in the second round of qualifiers that starts June 11, as they vie for a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
(By Lee Cheng-yu and Evelyn Kao)
