On April 30, former head coach of the Chinese national men’s football team, Li Tie, had his original sentence upheld, sentencing him to 20 years in prison.
According to the report from China Central Television (CCTV), the Hubei Provincial High Court on that day ruled on the second trial of Li Tie’s case of “bribery, corruption, unit bribery, non-state personnel bribery, and bribery against non-state personnel”, rejecting the appeal and maintaining the original verdict.
On March 28 last year, the Xianning Intermediate People’s Court in Hubei Province held the first trial of Li Tie’s case. Li Tie was accused of giving a total of 39.05 million RMB in money to relevant individuals from 2015 to 2019 to win games or gain favorable game results; accepting bribes totaling 50.89 million RMB using his position from 2019 to 2021; and receiving 26.75 million RMB from the Huaxia Club from 2017 to 2019. The total amount involved in the five counts was nearly 120 million RMB.
On December 13, 2024, Li Tie was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery, corruption, unit bribery, bribery against non-state personnel, and bribery against non-state personnel. Li Tie subsequently appealed the verdict.
Public records show that Li Tie, 48 years old this year, was a former player of the Chinese national men’s football team. After retiring, he served as an assistant coach for Guangzhou Evergrande, an assistant coach for the national team, head coach of Hebei China Fortune, head coach of Wuhan Zall, and other positions. On January 2, 2020, he became the head coach of the Chinese national men’s football team. He resigned in December 2021 due to poor performance in the Asian Zone 12-strong matches for the World Cup qualifiers. On November 26, 2022, Li Tie was investigated.
The Li Tie case is a landmark corruption case in Chinese football. Since Li Tie was investigated, at least a dozen senior officials within the football association system have been sentenced, with former vice-chairman of the Football Association Li Yuyi sentenced to 11 years in prison, and former vice-chairman Yu Hongchen sentenced to 13 years in prison.