Former Chinese soccer chief Nan Yong admitted to 17 charges of taking bribes worth more than 1.48 million yuan (US$234,726) when he appeared before a court in the northeastern Chinese city of Tieling yesterday, a day after court proceedings began against his predecessor Xie Yalong, who denied similar charges.

Nan Yong, former director of the Chinese Football Administrative Center, is taken to a vehicle after his trial at a court in Tieling, Liaoning province, on Wednesday. [China Daily]

Xie withdrew earlier confessions which he said had been obtained by torture. Police yesterday denied his claims.

Most of the charges against Nan, 50, who is credited with leading China to its only World Cup finals in 2002, were related to the promotion and relegation of clubs and match-fixing.

Shenyang Jinde, Dalian Shide, Shandong Luneng and Yunnan Hongta were involved in offering bribes to Nan, the court heard.

The former director of the Chinese Football Administrative Center and deputy director of the Chinese Football Association claimed in January 2010 that there was no hope for China's soccer if corruption was not dealt with.

Nan was arrested the same year along with associates Yang Yimin and Zhang Jianqiang.

They were sentenced in February's bribery trials to 10 1/2 years and 12 years in prison respectively.

Meanwhile, in Dandong, also in Liaoning Province, Li Dongsheng, the former head of the CFA's referees committee, faced charges of bribery and embezzlement.

Also in court, in Liaoning's Shenyang, were Qi Hong and Jiang Jin, the key players in China's successful run to the 2002 World Cup finals, and Shen Si and Li Ming.

The four former Chinese national team players were accused of taking bribes to fix a match in the last round of the 2003 Jia-A League, the top division at the time, in which their team, Shanghai International, lost 2-1 to Tianjin Teda.

The result meant that Tianjin avoided relegation and also dashed International's championship hopes as they had been only one point behind their rival Shanghai Shenhua at the time. Shenhua went on to win the league.

Prosecutors said that Teda's general manager Zhang Yifeng had offered 8 million yuan in bribes before the game through a middleman and the four players then divided the money in a hotel room after the game.

The players' lawyers appealed for light sentences but no verdicts or sentences were handed down by the court.