"No evidence of sexual bribery": Chinese Football Association concludes internal investigation into 'South Korean sexual bribery allegations'... leaves room for re-investigation if new clues emerge

*This content was translated by AI.

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) officially announced that it conducted an internal investigation regarding allegations that its officials were involved in sexual bribery claims against the Korea Football Association (KFA), but found no conclusive evidence to substantiate them.

On the 23rd (Korean time), the CFA stated via its official Weibo account, a domestic social media platform, "Regarding reports by some media outlets claiming that a CFA official was involved in 'inappropriate hospitality' provided by the KFA, the CFA promptly formed an investigation team and proceeded with the inquiry."

Regarding the investigation results, the CFA concluded the allegations by stating, "There is no evidence showing that the KFA provided 'inappropriate hospitality' to CFA officials," thereby settling the matter for now.

The origin of this incident dates back to a China-Korea referee exchange program organized by the KFA in January 2012. Recently, allegations surfaced through media reports suggesting that three employees affiliated with the CFA who attended the event at the time were subjected to inappropriate hospitality. As the controversy intensified, the CFA announced on the 19th that it would officially investigate the matter and began efforts to manage the situation.

However, just four days after launching the investigation, on the 23rd, the CFA ultimately issued an official stance to conclude the probe due to insufficient evidence. Given that approximately 14 years had passed since the incident occurred, analysts widely believe there were realistic limitations in securing physical evidence or specific circumstances within a short timeframe. Moreover, when announcing the results of this investigation, the CFA did not disclose any detailed information about who the specific targets of the investigation were or how the internal inquiry was conducted.

Nevertheless, while concluding that the current investigation ended due to insufficient evidence, the CFA cautiously maintained that the matter has not been fully resolved.

A representative of the CFA stated, "We are closely monitoring the progress of this situation" and added, "If new facts or clues emerge in the future, we will conduct a re-investigation." This is interpreted as leaving open the possibility of launching a re-investigation at any time should external whistleblowing or further specific disclosures occur.

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*This content was translated by AI.