File photo of Yang Yimin during an interview with CCTV. [sina.com]

TIELING, Liaoning province - A former Chinese soccer chief was put on trial for bribery in a northeastern Chinese court here on Wednesday.

Yang Yimin, who used to be a deputy head of both the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Football Administrative Center, stood trial in the Intermediate People's Court of Tieling in Liaoning province.

Later in the day, Lu Jun, the best-known Chinese referee who had officiated World Cup and Olympic Games, will face court in another Liaoning city, Dandong, on charges of "taking bribes as non-state staff."

Corruption hearings against some of China's top footballing officials, referees and club managers opened on Monday with Zhang Jianqiang, the former head of the CFA's referee commission, in court on charges of accepting match-fixing bribes.

Bribes taken to fix United friendly

A former referee has admitted taking bribes to fix matches in China, including a friendly involving Manchester United in 2007, according to a state media report.

Standing trial in northeastern Liaoning province, Huang Junjie confessed on Tuesday that he had received bribes of nearly 1.6 million yuan ($252,100) between 2005 and 2009, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The bribes were from six domestic clubs and involved two international matches, a friendly between Manchester United and Shenzhen FC which the English side won 6-0 and another between Sydney FC and Shanghai Shenhua in 2009, Xinhua said.

Huang was asked to sway results in the two international matches by another referee, Zhou Weixin, who also faces charges of corruption and bribing civil servants.

The reports gave no details on what Huang and Zhou allegedly did to fix the outcome of the games.

China began trials on Monday for some 60 national soccer players, referees, coaches and other officials accused of involvement in match-fixing and gambling scandals.

Former Chinese soccer chief Nan Yong, Xie Yalong and 2002 World Cup match official Lu Jun are among those facing charges.