Veteran Chinese soccer player Hao Haidong is amid nationwide criticism among fans for his latest remarks that soccer players in the country are poorer than unpaid migrant workers because of rampant payment in arrears.

Hao Haidong (NO. nine) walks off the pitch in this undated photo. [file]

Hao's remarks came just days after the most populous country's national football team presents a lackluster 0-0 draw away with the city-state Singapore during their Asian Cup qualifiers and the team had slipped to 103 in the table rank.

China is facing a vicious circle in terms of unpaid salary, the 33-year-old striker told a talk show, adding the phenomenon will degrade national football's image and undermines players' interest in the field.

Hao rose to his fame in the early 1994 after China began its exercise of league and business injection. He was China's top striker in the 12-year-old league with 92 scores from 1994-2003 and dubbed the Asia's top forward.

"Some players' situation is worse than migrant workers. They are not able to get their salary from the club albeit they have played for a year," Hao said, responding to the host's question whether China's football league is hampered by rampant payment in arrears.

Players without getting their due pay has come into the spotlight. They even resorted to labor departments in the hope of solving their headaches.

Players from the Shenzhen Jianlibao club signed a petition in 2004 to local Labor Bureau after their club failed to pay their salary totalling 5 million yuan (US$630,851).

In addition to untimely pay, Chinese football is amid pressure from the public for its match-fixing scandals.

Top clubs such as Da Lian and Beijing threatened to quit the league after they said they were not fair played due to the 'dark whistle'.

Head of the China Football Association Xie Yalong has vowed to shut down the domestic Super League if rampant match fixing, gambling and bribery continues.

"If order cannot be maintained, then we will stop play," Xie told the Titan Sports.

What happened off field also dampened China's dozens-old league, which sees a sharp decline in the number of fans due to players' dim performance in the matches at home and abroad. What is worse, sponsors are reluctant to pour their investment into the league, which baffles the further development of the sports.

Chen Yongqiang and Lu Bofei from the Shenzhen Jinwei football club and Wang Xiaoshi from Wuhan have been hacked and robbed by unknown assailants, which outlined loopholes in club management and players' life style.

Players wallow in bars at night and prostitutes as well as gambling, according to previous state media reports.