The Tieling court also read out the trial verdicts and sentences to the other 19 people in the morning, including Du Yunqi, former president of the Chinese first division club Qingdao, who received a seven-year jail sentence.

The verdicts and punishments for the remaining 18 defendants will be announced in the afternoon.

Beijing-based lawyer Hao Jinsong described the court rulings as "loud thunder, little rain."

"The punishments are too light to deter future crimes in Chinese soccer," said Hao.

Hao said Yang Yimin should feel lucky with a 10-1/2 years sentence and the 12-year term handed to Zhang Jianqiang was "unreasonably too light".

Chinese soccer has long been plagued with gambling, match-fixing scandals, crooked referees, corrupt administrators and violence on and off the pitch.

Two days ago, a court in Dandong, Liaoning Province, sentenced nine people including China's "Golden Whistle" Lu Jun to up to seven years in jail for bribery and match fixing.

Lu, a 2000 Olympic and 2002 World Cup referee, was sentenced to 5-1/2 years in jail for taking 810,000 yuan (128,000 US dollars) to fix seven league matches.

Another referee, Wang Daxue, was sentenced on Thursday to six years for taking bribes.

Wang, a "patriotic referee" who usually officiated in favor of Chinese teams in international games, said that he intended to appeal.

. Former CFA heads Nan Yong and his successor Xie Yalong, both brought down amidst China's crackdown on soccer scandals, are awaiting trial.

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