BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Six players of China's U-19 men's national team have been suspended for six months after violating the team's regulations, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Saturday.
35 players had been called up to a U-19 training camp in Shanghai from May 17 to June 6. The CFA revealed that Tao Qianglong, Liu Zhurun, Peng Hao, Ren Lihao, Han Dong and He Longhai left the team's training base without permission and went out drinking on May 30.
"It was a severe violation of the team's epidemic control regulations, and negatively affected the whole team," noted the Chinese football governing body, saying the six players will be banned from all matches organized by the CFA from June 1 to November 30 this year.
The CFA also said the six will not be allowed to join China's national teams at any level during that period.
Apart from He Longhai, who plays for Shonan Bellmare in Japan, the other five players have received further punishment from their respective Chinese Super League clubs.
Shanghai SIPG have suspended Liu, Peng, Ren from training and matches, and stopped paying their salaries during their suspension.
Dalian Pro and Henan Jianye have respectively dropped Tao and Han from their senior teams to reserve teams. Tao has been fined 300,000 RMB (42,000 U.S. dollars), while Han received a 200,000 RMB (28,000 U.S. dollar) fine. Additionally, both players will receive no salary during their suspension.
The three clubs also said they firmly support the decision made by the CFA, saying that observing discipline is important for the growth of young players.
"They all realized the seriousness of the situation. It is a loss to the team, and of course, it will have greater effects on the players themselves," said U-19 head coach Cheng Yaodong. "The U-19 national team and their clubs all have responsibility for their education. It is worthy of our deep reflection."
According to CFA president Chen Xuyuan, the U-19 national team will participate in the country's third-tier league in the new season, with the aim of providing the players with more high-quality competition in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. ■