China would put in place a series of regulations beginning in April to prevent fixing football games, a senior disciplinary official has said.

The measures include urging management bodies to step up "internal regulation" and, in the long term, tighten supervision over football clubs, said Wu Qi, discipline inspection chief of the General Administration of Sports (GAS).

In November, China launched a crackdown to stop manipulation of football matches that have been blamed for the poor performance of the country's football teams. This past Monday, police arrested Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, former vice chairmen of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), charging them with corruption.

Wu told reporters on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session in Beijing that the crackdown was launched after Interpol notified China in October about major gambling on football games in northeast Liaoning Province.

While football gambling groups had begun to wade in China in 2000, Wu said. "Match fixing spread fast from 2004 to 2006."

He attributed widespread fixing of matches to corrupt senior officials and players being easily manipulated.

"The key to fighting corruption is to establish rules and a mechanism" for enforcement, Wu said.

Combating corruption was listed as a major task in the government work report Premier Wen Jiabao delivered Friday at the annual session of the National People's Congress.

Wen said officials must "resolutely" implement the central leadership's regulations on reporting on their personal financial situations and property.

Source: Xinhua