Ex-China football coach Li Tie sentenced to 20 years for bribery

Li Tie pleaded guilty to fixing matches, accepting bribes, and offering bribes to people to get the top coaching job

Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese national men's football team, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery, according to state media.

Li, who previously played for Everton in the English Premier League, admitted earlier this year to match-fixing, taking bribes, and offering bribes to secure the coaching position. His case underscores the reach of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, which has expanded to sports, banking, and the military.

Earlier this week, three former officials from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) were also sentenced to prison for bribery, and more than a dozen coaches and players have been investigated.

Li, who coached the national team from January 2020 to December 2021, confessed to accepting over $16 million in bribes. The court found that the bribery occurred from 2015, when he was an assistant coach at Hebei China Fortune Club, until his resignation as national team coach in 2021. In exchange for the bribes, Li selected players for the national team and helped clubs win competitions.

In an anti-corruption documentary aired earlier this year by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Li apologized for his actions, saying, "I'm very sorry. 

Li, 47, earned 92 caps for China and played in the 2002 World Cup, which remains the country's only appearance in the tournament's finals. His former boss, Chen Xuyuan, the former CFA president, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for accepting $11 million in bribes.

Xi Jinping, who has long sought to elevate China’s football standing, once set three goals: to qualify for the World Cup again, to host it, and eventually to win it. However, recent corruption scandals involving key football figures have hindered these ambitions.

This latest anti-corruption crackdown mirrors a similar effort in 2010 when several football officials, players, and referees were jailed for corruption under Xi’s leadership as vice-president.

Rowan Simons, author of *Bamboo Goalposts*, noted the striking similarities between the two campaigns, saying, "In many ways, [the current campaign] looks exactly the same as it was 10 years ago, with a different set of characters. How is it different? There's much more money involved."