Ex-China football coach sentenced to 20 years for bribery
China’s national football team coach
The former coach of China’s national football team Li Tie has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery, Chinese state media reported on Friday.
The ruling marks a major development in China’s ongoing anti-corruption efforts within the sports industry.
Li, a former player for English Premier League club Everton, was handed a fixed-term sentence after a trial that highlighted malpractices in Chinese football, according to the Xinhua News Agency. However, detailed specifics of the case have not been fully disclosed.
China’s anti-corruption campaign, spearheaded by President Xi Jinping since his rise to power over a decade ago, expanded to the sports sector in 2022. This week saw multiple high-profile convictions of former football officials.
Li, aged 47, who managed the national team between January 2020 and December 2021, admitted earlier this year to accepting bribes exceeding $10 million. He also confessed to arranging approximately $421,000 in bribes to secure his position as head coach and acknowledged involvement in match-fixing during his tenure in the Chinese Super League.
In a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV, Li expressed remorse, stating, "I should have maintained integrity and adhered to the proper path," adding that behaviours now seen as corrupt were once common in the football industry.
CCTV’s practice of broadcasting confessions before trials has drawn criticism from human rights groups for undermining judicial fairness.
Li’s sentencing comes amidst a wave of corruption-related convictions. Liu Yi, the former secretary general of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined 3.6 million yuan (approximately $495,000).
Similarly, Tan Hai, former head of the CFA’s referees management office, received a 6.5-year sentence and a fine of 200,000 yuan, while Qi Jun, the CFA’s ex-chief of strategic planning, was sentenced to seven years and fined 600,000 yuan. Earlier in the year, former CFA president Chen Xuyuan received a life sentence for bribery.
State media suggests that further rulings against other officials may follow, reflecting the government’s intensified crackdown on corruption within football and the broader sports sector.