According to state media, the original Chinese national men’s basketball coach has received a 20-year prison sentence for corruption.
Li Tie, who likewise played for Everton in the English Premier League, admitted earlier this year to fixing games, accepting money, and offering gifts in order to obtain the best training position.
The case shows how President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption assault has cut through sports, banks and the defense.
Three former Chinese Football Association ( CFA ) officials received bribe-related jail sentences earlier this week. More than a hundred coaches and players have been investigated.
Li, who was the national team’s head coach from January 2020 to December 2021, pleaded guilty in March to taking over$ 10 million in bribes.
The 47-year-old apologized for his crimes in a video that was broadcast by the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in earlier this year.
” I’m very sorry. He said,” I should have kept my head straight and followed the right path.” There were certain things that were at the moment typical in football, the statement goes.
Li had played for China in 92 games and participated in the World Cup in 2002.
His former boss, the former CFA president Chen Xuyuan, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for accepting bribes worth $11 million.
In the past, Xi had vowed to make China a big football power.
In 2011, he spoke of his” three wants” for Chinese sport: to count for the World Cup afterwards, to host the game and to one day get the prize.
However, the current suspensions and convictions of significant sports figures, some of whom were officials tasked with leading the sport revolution, have put another loss to the nation’s sports ambitions.