A number of senior Chinese sports officials have been jailed for corruption, including a former chairman of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) who was given a life sentence.
The sentences are the result of an investigation into sports corruption that began in 2022 and has snared a number of senior figures.
As well as the life sentence for bribery handed down to Chen Xuyuan, former chairman of the CFA, courts in Hubei province announced the sentences handed down to four other former sports administrators on Tuesday, including former CFA executive deputy secretary-general Chen Yongliang who was jailed for 14 years.
Yu Hongchen, the former president of the Chinese Athletics Association, was given a 13-year sentence; Dong Zheng, former general manager of the CFA Super League, was sentenced to eight years, while Liu Lei, a former director at the Wuhan Football Management Centre, was sentenced to 30 months.
Those under investigation include deputy sports minister Du Zhaocai, who was arrested last October. Li Tie, the former head coach of the men’s national football team, has also been caught up in the campaign.
Li, who played for Everton in the English Premier League and represented China in the 2002 World Cup, was charged with several counts of bribery in August and is still awaiting trial.
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A wider investigation into corruption in sport has seen dozens of people – including coaches, players, referees, club executives and agents – placed under investigation, according to state media reports.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that the Intermediate Court in the city of Huangshi concluded that Chen had taken “particularly large amounts” of bribes worth over 81 million yuan (US$11.2 million) between 2010 and last year.
It said that during his tenure at the CFA, Chen did favours for a number of football clubs and local associations, helping them to win matches in a way that “seriously undermined” fair competition and “inflicted serious damage” on the game in China.
Chen pleaded guilty and CCTV broadcast footage showing him bowing and reading out an apology, saying he was “ashamed” of his actions and wanted to “sincerely say sorry to [fans] and I hope to get forgiveness”.
Chen previously featured in a CCTV documentary aired in January, which focused on the investigation into corruption in football following the failure by the men’s national team to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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The documentary said the investigation aimed to answer fans’ questions about the men’s teams disappointing performances, regular scandals and a game “full of chaos”.
Meanwhile, Yu, the former athletics chief, was also involved in football through his roles with the Football Management Centre of the General Administration of Sport and CFA.
The court found that that he had taken bribes worth more than 22.5 million yuan from football teams and individuals between 2010 and 2023 and misused his influence.
