Corruption ‘everywhere’ in Chinese football, ex-head of governing body says in TV confession

The Chinese state TV on Tuesday aired interviews of former football officials confessing to bribe-taking that allegedly resulted in the poor performance of the team in international tournaments.

Li Tie, the former Everton midfielder and ex-coach of the national team, confessed to his involvement in bribes and match-fixing in an anti-graft documentary aired by CCTV on Tuesday.

Serious Violations of The Law

He was placed under investigation in 2022 for “serious violations of the law” but so far no detailed information on the case has been revealed to the public.

The Xi Jinping administration has launched a major anti-corruption crackdown on Chinese football that has seen more than a dozen officials of the Chinese Football Association investigated or charged.

The Asian Cup Tournament

The confessions were aired just days before the Asian Cup tournament following a years-long investigation into the underperformance of the men’s team, which was defeated by countries like Vietnam and Syria.

China also failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, which led to Mr Li quitting in 2021.

The former Chinese skipper said he had arranged nearly $421,000 (£330,954) in bribes to bag the position of the head coach and secure the head coach position and took part in fixing matches during his tenure as the club coach.

The Confessions

“I’m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path,” he said. “There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”

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