All of China's first division football clubs have been involved in corruption and match fixing, according to a government-owned paper.

Shanghai's Liberation Daily quotes a financial official with the Chinese Football Association saying that all 26 clubs have falsified their accounts over the past year to hide bribes to referees and players.

China's professional league is only five years' old but already it is big business. The crowds pour in, television advertising is huge and the top players are millionaires.

But behind the scenes there have been allegations of corruption.

Two months ago they fled into the open with the sponsors of China's top club - Dalian Wanda - complaining there was a dark side to the sport and threatening to withdraw from the game.

Referee sees red

A top referee has subsequently been banned for faulty decisions and two coaches who accused players of throwing games were told to take their allegations to the police.

The fans have been enraged, some even holding public demonstrations to demand a clean-up.

Now a financial official from the Chinese Football Association has confirmed just how deep the problem goes.

He says every single one of the first division clubs has falsified its financial records for 1998, turning in phoney receipts to hide money spent buying the good will of referees and the deliberate mistakes of opposition players.

One club president said the only way to get rid of match-fixing was to have foreign companies audit all club accounts.