Three former Chinese soccer officials, including former vice president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA)Xie Yalong, had been arrested for bribery, police said Tuesday.

The other two were Wei Shaohui, former leader of China's national football team, and Li Dongsheng, former head of the CFA's referee commission, said sources with a special investigation group set up by the Ministry of Public Security.

Meanwhile, the sources said that investigations against three soccer referees accused of taking bribes and match fixing, namely Lu Jun, Huang Junjie and Zhou Weixin, had concluded and the cases transferred to the prosecution.

All three had confessed to the crimes they were accused of, the sources said. Lu Jun, once titled the "golden whistle" for his stellar performances on the football field, repeatedly apologized to his fans.