A former president of the Chinese Football Association was sentenced to life in prison for accepting $11 million worth of bribes, state media reported on Tuesday, amid a string of sports officials being jailed for corruption.
A thorough crackdown on corruption among public officials under President Xi Jinping has dealt a major blow to China's sports industry, especially soccer.
Approximately 10 CFA executives and executives have been dismissed in recent years, including former national team coach Li Tie.
According to the Communist Party-affiliated People's Daily, former chairman Chen Xueyuan used his position at CFA and other institutions to “illegally receive a total of 81.03 million yuan ($11 million) in money from others.”
The report said the bribes were “particularly large” and that his actions “caused serious damage to fair competition and good order.”
He added: “It has had a serious impact on the domestic football industry.”
Mr. Xi admits to being a soccer enthusiast and says he dreams of his country hosting and winning the World Cup.
After a corruption investigation and years of disappointing results on the pitch, that ambition seems further away than ever.
National team captain Zhang Linpeng quit international football last week, citing the “disgrace” of the World Cup qualifying draw with Singapore, and later reversed his decision.
– “General practice” –
Chen has held other positions in football and served as CFA president from 2019 until he was investigated in February last year.
In January, Chen appeared in a television documentary and confessed to accepting money from people trying to get his hands on his best books.
“Fans can accept the fact that the current state of Chinese soccer is bad,” Chen said in the documentary.
“But they cannot tolerate corruption.”
Judgments in other major graft cases are also expected to be announced on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua said.
This may also include the fate of former coach Lee, who was close to Chen.
The former Everton midfielder admitted in a documentary in January that he arranged nearly $430,000 in bribes to secure the position and also helped fix matches while he was the club's coach. .
“There were some things that were common in soccer at the time,” he said.
In another bribery verdict announced on Tuesday, former CFA executive Chen Yongliang was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Former Chinese Super League general manager Dong Zheng has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
State media also reported that Yu Hongcheng, former president of the China Sports Association, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the same crime.
– 'Broken my heart' –
Another incident that shocked both inside and outside the Chinese game was that of South Korean national soccer player Song Joon-ho, who was detained by Chinese authorities in May last year.
The Chinese government said at the time that the World Cup midfielder had been detained on “suspects of accepting bribes by non-state officials,” but did not provide further details.
Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday that he had been released and returned home.
Son plays for Shandong Taishan in the Chinese Super League and appeared in three of South Korea's four matches at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
National teammate Lee Jae-sung told the media that he was grateful for Son's release.
“My heart broke when I first heard about his detention last year,” he told a news conference in Bangkok, ahead of South Korea's World Cup qualifier against Thailand later on Tuesday.
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