Dandong, China, Dec 23 - Three former Chinese national team coaches were involved in soccer corruption, according to a north-eastern Chinese court.

Yang Yimin, former deputy chief of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Football Administrative Center, admitted to the Intermediate People's Court of Dandong that he had received money from Gao Hongbo, Jia Xiuquan and Yin Tiesheng.

Gao, who took the helm of the Chinese team from 2009 to August 2011, gave Yang 20,000 yuan ($3,200) and a laptop computer worth $1,000 in December 2003 for his help in naming Gao the head coach of Xiamen club, Xinhua reported.

Jia Xiuquan, former head coach of the Chinese youth team, had given a total of 218,750 yuan to Yang.

Yang also accepted 30,000 yuan in 2001 from Changchun head coach Yin Tiesheng, who later had a brief stint with the national team.

Chinese soccer has been plagued with allegations of gambling, match-fixing and crooked referees for years, which, coupled with the national side's poor performances, have long made the game a source of disappointment for diehard fans.

The nationwide crackdown on gambling and match-fixing started in March 2009 when a high-profile committee was set up by 12 ministry-level bodies to clean up corruption in Chinese soccer.

Since then, a number of officials, referees and former players have been detained for their involvement in corruption and match-fixing in soccer games, including former CFA vice-president Nan Yong and his predecessor Xie Yalong. (IANS)