Football Daily reporter Cheng Shan reported that on March 2, the official website of the State Administration of sports issued the notice of the Ministry of public security of the General Administration of sports on seriously investigating and dealing with gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law, and earnestly strengthening industry self-discipline and autonomy (hereinafter referred to as the notice), urging all local sports departments, relevant business functional departments of the General Administration of sports and education, project management centers and associations to strictly enforce discipline requirements, Strictly investigate and deal with gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law, and strengthen industry self-discipline. The introduction of special documents aims to solve the problems such as unclear relevant management regulations, imperfect rules of industry associations, unclear punishment basis, inappropriate punishment range and so on.

At present, China Professional Football League is in trouble. Before the start of 2022 season, under the background that players are facing salary arrears and salary cuts, some people in the industry are worried about whether fake gambling black will emerge in the league. Therefore, after the release of the notice, people in the football industry are also thinking whether this is more aimed at the football industry.

When interpreting the document, the person in charge of the policy and regulation department of the General Administration of sport of the people’s Republic of China made clear the time point for the promulgation of the notice: in October 2021, the General Administration of sport started the drafting of the document on seriously investigating and dealing with gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law. After understanding the situation from relevant associations and systematically combing the existing policies and regulations, the first draft of the notice was studied and formed.

In November, opinions and suggestions were solicited in writing from the Ministry of public security, departments and departments of the General Administration of sports, project management centers, some national individual sports associations and local sports departments. The Ministry of public security agreed to issue a joint document and put forward suggestions for revision. After listening to, studying and absorbing the opinions of all parties, and constantly revising and improving, the notice was finally formed. Combined with the signing time of the notice “December 31, 2021”, it can be determined that the notice has been formed in 2021.

According to the requirements of the notice, the Chinese Football Association should do four major things well.

The first is to improve ideological awareness, fully recognize the harmfulness of gambling and match fixing in football matches from a political perspective, and the necessity and urgency of carrying out industry governance, investigation and crackdown. This work is regarded as implementing the concept of governing the country according to law, strengthening the construction of socialist core values, and ensuring the healthy development of the industry Maintaining social harmony and stability is an important part of strengthening organizational leadership, close cooperation and cooperation, paying close attention to the implementation of measures, preventing and reducing the occurrence of such problems to the greatest extent, and striving to create a good industry atmosphere and social environment.

The second is to strengthen education and guidance and strictly control the selection gate. We will effectively strengthen the education of football players, coaches, referees and relevant personnel in discipline, the rule of law and professional ethics, carry out warning education activities with positive and negative typical cases, constantly strengthen the awareness of discipline and firmly establish the concept of the rule of law.

When football players, football coaches and football referees register or enter the sports team, they must sign a letter of commitment not to participate in gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law. Practitioners should be made clear about the cost of violations of laws and regulations: those who have violations of discipline and law such as gambling and match fixing, in addition to relevant penalties, shall not be selected into sports teams and national teams at all levels, and shall be disqualified from participating in football matches. Those who play match fixing or gamble with inside information in international events shall be suspended for life once verified. If Party members are involved in violations of discipline and law, they shall be transferred to relevant discipline inspection and supervision institutions for handling according to the authority of cadre management. If the circumstances are serious, the impact is bad, or they do not cooperate with the investigation or deliberately deceive, they shall be given a heavier punishment.

Third, according to the requirements of the notice and in combination with the actual situation of football projects, formulate and revise the disciplinary guidelines and punishment provisions, and clarify the basis, conditions, types and ranges of punishment and the scale of additional punishment. The Chinese Football Association should improve relevant management regulations, establish special disciplinary and punishment institutions, establish and improve the working mechanism, actively give play to the self-discipline and autonomy function of trade associations, and constantly improve the level of autonomy of associations.

Athletes, coaches, referees and other personnel who have violations of discipline and law such as gambling and match fixing shall be subject to written review, fine, order to turn in the income from violation of discipline, suspend the payment of training allowance and reward salary, expel the sports team, ban (lifelong ban) and other penalties according to the seriousness of the circumstances. Of course, the punishment decisions made by international sports organizations should be carefully investigated and verified. If the facts are clear and the evidence is conclusive, additional punishment must be imposed; For those who do not conform to the facts or the punishment decision is unfair, they shall actively assist relevant individuals or organizations in appealing.

The fourth is to further clarify their own responsibilities, improve the management system, refine work responsibilities, and establish an internal accountability mechanism. The notice clearly requires that if a professional league is involved, the League organization, the professional club and the managers who are directly responsible shall be punished at the same time. Due to the absence of management responsibility, if relevant personnel participate in gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law, or find that gambling, match fixing and other violations of discipline and law are concealed, the relevant responsible person shall be seriously investigated for responsibility. The football management center and the association’s Discipline Inspection Commission (Discipline Inspection Committee) should strengthen discipline enforcement supervision, urge relevant departments and units to earnestly perform their main responsibilities and supervision responsibilities according to their respective responsibilities, strictly implement relevant punishment decisions, and ensure the effective implementation of the association’s self-discipline and autonomy.