Chinese Football Association’s former vice president Li Yuyi sentenced to 11 years for taking bribes worth 12 million yuan

On August 19, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, Li Yuyi, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribery. The former director of the Wuhan Football Sports Management Center, Fu Xiang, was also sentenced to 11 years.

According to the charges, from 2004 to 2021, Li Yuyi used his positions as deputy secretary of the Jinshan District Committee, district head of Shanghai, vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and chairman of the Chinese Super League Limited Company to provide assistance to relevant units and individuals in matters such as maintaining the league status of football clubs and contracting engineering projects. He illegally accepted more than 12 million yuan in total from others.

In recent years, there has been ongoing turmoil in the Chinese Football Association. On the evening of April 28, 2023, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, Li Yuyi, and former chairman of the Chinese Super League Limited Company, Ma Cheng, were both announced to have fallen from grace.

The news of Li Yuyi’s downfall quickly shot up on the mainland’s hot search list.

Li Yuyi, Ma Cheng, and the former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, Yu Hongchen, who was investigated earlier, had successively served as chairmen of the Chinese Super League Company.

In addition to Li Yuyi’s sentencing, former director of the Wuhan Football Sports Management Center, Fu Xiang, was also sentenced to 11 years.

On August 19, the People’s Court of Jiayu County, Hubei Province, pronounced the first-instance judgment on Fu Xiang, the former director of the Wuhan Football Sports Management Center, former executive vice chairman and secretary-general of the Wuhan Football Association, for the crimes of embezzlement, bribery, giving bribes, and unit bribery. He was sentenced to 2 years for embezzlement, 8 years for bribery, 3 years for giving bribes, and 2 years for unit bribery, totaling 11 years in prison.