Police had been questioning Chinese Football Association chief, Nan Yong, about alleged corruption in the Chinese game for some days. On Friday China's General Administration of Sport announced that he had been removed from office. Nan, only took over as head of the– the CFA - early last year. Deputy director Yang Yimin, who was in charge of refereeing in the country's professional leagues has also been dismissed.

Cui Dalin, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport told reporters that certain people and their acts has tainted the image of the CFA, put Chinese soccer into jeopardy and hurt the fans' feelings, said on chinadaily.com.

This is the third time that China's Ministry ofsoccer scandal has released details of the ongoing probe into soccer scandals.

This summer's soccer world cup may be going ahead without china's national team, which didn't qualify. But a stripped down version of the sport is rapidly gaining in popularity here, raising new hopes of international success. BON's Tom Spender has the story.

CLEANING UP THE WEB
GOOD HARVEST
A FROZEN EXISTENCE
BOXING BOOST
TOXIC SPRITE?
CAN SOCCER BOSS CLEAN UP THE SPORT?

In the 2010 world cup, both South Korea and Japan have advanced to the knockout stage. As a neighbor of those two countries and a country with the world's largest population, China's soccer team has been widely questioned.

Wei Di, China's soccer chief, back from South Africa where he watched the World Cup games for a way to lift Chinese soccer, believes he has got a clue after witnessing the strong performances of the Asian teams.

Wei, 55, a former track and field athlete specializing in throwing events, was never involved in soccer in his athletic and sports management careers. But he was suddenly appointed to his current post five months ago, tasked with saving the struggling sport in the country that was hit by poor international performances, match-fixing scandals and illegal gambling.

The new head of China's soccer federation has pledged to attack corruption and lift the Asian sporting power's lowly international ranking.

Wei Di said Tuesday the widely disparaged Chinese Football Association faces numerous "difficult hurdles," starting with restoring its public image.

Wei says the leadership must eliminate cheating and bribery. He also says "we should also look to our problems as a chance to start anew."

A sweeping probe of match fixing and bribery allegations has netted more than a dozen players and officials, including Wei's predecessor Nan Yong.

Soccer is widely popular in China, even though the men's national team is ranked No. 97 in the world.

While China may be well known for skill of its ping pong players, pers and gymnasts - it's not exactly famous for producing soccer talent.

But some of the nation's educators want to change that. A new initiative hopes to train the next generation of Chinese soccer stars for success on the world's biggest sporting stage.

BON's Andrew Livingstone has the story.