Former China men´s football coach jailed 20 years for corruption

BEIJING: Former China men´s national football team coach Li Tie has been jailed for 20 years, state media reported Friday, following a lengthy trial on corruption charges.

Former Everton player Li “was sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of 20 years at an initial trial”, state news agency Xinhua said, without giving further details. Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a sweeping crackdown against official corruption since coming to power over a decade ago.

Anti-graft authorities took aim at the sport industry in 2022 and have announced a string of convictions for former football administrators this week. Li, who was China coach from January 2020 until December 2021, pleaded guilty earlier this year to accepting over $10 million in bribes.

The 47-year-old is one of China´s most recognisable former footballers and notably played as a midfielder with Premier League side Everton. He featured in a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV in January about widespread corruption in Chinese football.

CCTV occasionally airs confessions by criminal suspects before they have appeared in court, a practice widely condemned by rights groups. In the programme, Li said he had arranged nearly $421,000 in bribes to secure the head coach position and helped fix matches when he was a club coach in the Chinese Super League.

“I´m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path,” said Li during the show. “There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”