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SHANGHAI: A Chinese international soccer player who saw his Mercedes 4×4 license plate altered was released from custody for 15 days and apologized on Wednesday (April 29).
Chinese Super League champion Guangzhou Evergrande fired winger Yu Hanchao after he was filmed swapping a letter E for an F in his jeep in mid-April.
The southern city police fined Yu 5,000 yuan ($ 700) and the authorities detained him in “administrative detention.”
Yu, who has 59 games and nine goals for China, was released on Wednesday, state media said.
In his first public reaction to the controversy, the 33-year-old man blamed his “weak knowledge of the law.”
“I was changing my luck, which violates traffic regulations,” Yu wrote on a Weibo similar to Twitter, without explaining why he tampered with the license plate.
Reports speculate that he was trying to evade traffic restrictions that limit drivers based on their license numbers.
“I sincerely apologize to everyone and hope that my case serves as a warning to others.
“I fully accept all criticism and will always remember to be a law-abiding citizen in the future.”
Yu is looking for a new club after Fabio Cannavaro’s Evergrande said he had “severely violated” the team’s rules.
Yu’s international career also seems to be over, although he has not appeared in his country since the Asian Cup last year.
Chinese coach Li Tie again dropped Yu off his training team.
However, it did include Brazilian striker Evergrande Aloisio for the first time.
The 31-year-old joins another naturalized striker, Elkeson, also from Brazil, on the team.
