Ye Zheyun

Who is Ye Zheyun?

Ye Zheyun is a Chinese business man who is accused of being involved in a Belgian football corruption -and betting scandal in 2005. Several teams and/or players would have received money from Ye Zheyun to influence match results, so involved gamblers could be certain of a gambling profit.

Teams mentioned in the scandal are Lierse, La Louvière, Sint-Truiden, AEC Mons, Verbroedering Geel and also Germinal Beerschot. Ye Zheyun always appeared at teams with financial problems, except for Beerschot, who had at that time a crucial match against AEC Mons who were on the verge of relegation. The insinuations about fixed results started after a few matches, on which were heavily betted, with strange events and/or results. Such as e.g. Lierse starting with a reserve team twice unexpectedly. Ye Zheyun had also been the owner of Finnish team AC Allianssi, due to bankruptcy a now defunct club who also seemed to experience from some strange match events at the end of their existence. Police investigated the case but found insufficient evidence.

The Belgian football association was heavily criticised by press and football fans for their indolent investigation about the whole case. A lot of players and teams were accused of being involved, but in the end only one team, one coach and one player were found guilty of match fixing. Lierse and Kacić appealed against this verdict and eventually, on March 17, they were acquitted.