China's ailing soccer league has been hit hard by a post-World Cup "syndrome" as it's more difficult to bring the fans back to the matches after the German World Cup, an official said on Tuesday.

Lang Xiaonong, director of the League Department of the Chinese Football Association, said every match had witnessed slump of crowd after the Super League resumed after the World Cup.

"In the past three rounds matches, every match can only attract an average crowd of 9,000, but before the World Cup, the figure is 12,000," Lang said.

He said it was even worse for the first division league. "The average crowd is only about 6,500 after the World Cup," he said.

Chinese soccer league had already slumped to a crisis for match fixing scandals in the last few years. During its heydays, every top-flight league match could attract about 50,000 fans to the ground.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2006)