The troubled Chinese Football Association replaced its top official Friday after he and two others were questioned by police about match fixing.
A statement on the association's Web site said Wei Di had replaced Nan Yong, who is being investigated by police, along with CFA vice-chairman Yang Yimin, and the former director of its referee committee association, Zhang Jianqiang.
The move is the latest in a push to rid Chinese soccer of the taint of cheating and raise the level of play following complaints from top government officials.
Last month, 16 team officials and others were arrested on suspicion of bribing or threatening players and referees to determine the outcome of games they had bet on.
``The decision to remove Nan Yong as director and Yang Yimin as deputy director has been made since both of them are now helping the police in investigations into the commercial bribery and match-fixing cases,'' said Cui Dalin, vice minister of the General Administration of Sport, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Wei, former head of China's Water Sports Administration, has also been in charge of China's boxing and weightlifting organizations, but he has little experience in soccer, Xinhua said.
Soccer is popular in China, even though the men's national team is ranked No. 97 in the world.
The top-tier, 16-team China Super League hit an attendance record average of 16,300 a game last season. Sponsors Nike and Pirelli have made a combined annual commitment of $22 million to sponsor the league.
