Son Jun-ho, a South Korean soccer player hit with a match-fixing ban from the Chinese Football Association, is set for a legal battle against his former team.
Shandong Taishan, of China’s Super League, filed a complaint against Son at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with a hearing slated for August 11.
The CAS has confirmed the hearing date, but few details about Shandong’s case have been made public, including the amount of compensation the team seeks or the evidence it intends to present.
Son Jun-ho’s agent told the South Korean media the player “acknowledged” the hearing date and was “currently discussing the matter with lawyers.” The agent did not confirm whether or not the player will attend the hearing.
The Chinese news outlet 163.com reported that Shandong is angry that it had “invested a large transfer fee” and paid Son a high salary. The outlet said the club was “likely to claim that it suffered economic and reputational losses” as a result of Son’s match-fixing activities.
Son Jun-ho Match Fixing Case: August Hearing Awaits
Son initially admitted to the CFA’s charges. However, after returning to South Korea, he has repeatedly claimed innocence of all allegations and denied any involvement in match-fixing.
He claimed that payments he received from other individuals were not bribes, but private loans, the South Korean newspaper Sports Dong-a reported.
And he said he only confessed to match-fixing to convince the Chinese authorities to let him return to South Korea.
The South Korean news outlet Osen reported that lawyers expect the case to hinge on whether or not Son “materially breached” the terms of his contract with Shandong.
Experts also believe the case will serve as a testbed for the wider Chinese Super League as its teams mull legal cases against other players and officials.
The case will also help determine whether Chinese clubs can take similar cases to the CAS if they discover overseas players have attempted to manipulate match results.
Police arrested Son in May 2023 on charges of accepting bribes and eventually released him in March the following year.
The arrest was part of a sweeping crackdown on match-fixing and illegal sports betting that saw the CFA ban over 130 players, officials, and coaches for life.
Crackdown Continues
Other big names caught in the crackdown included the ex-Everton midfielder Li Tie and Chen Xuyuan, the CFA’s former president.
In September 2024, the CFA gave Son a lifetime ban, stating that he had “intentionally failed” to fulfill his duties as a member of his club team.
The CFA petitioned FIFA to extend the sanction globally. However, the plea fell on deaf ears both at FIFA and in South Korea, where Son joined Suwon FC in June 2024.
Now aged 34, the player has since moved on to the second-tier South Korean side Chungnam Asan.
A Chinese court found Son guilty of taking payments of up to $74,000 for attempting to manipulate the results of matches in December 2021 and January the following year.
The Chinese match-fixing probe remains ongoing, with the CFA issuing a further 17 lifetime bans as recently as this May.
A former convicted soccer match fixer-turned anti-corruption activist recently told CasinoBeats that IT-powered tools like AI can help boost sports integrity.
Match-fixing allegations have also dogged US sports leagues in recent months. Former NBA stars and college athletes have also been named in probes, with governing bodies handing out lifetime bans in some instances.
Last year, Australian soccer and rugby authorities handed out long-term bans to a number of amateur and professional players.
