Chinese former football star Li Tie, who was also coach of the country's national men's team, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption – one of the heaviest penalties imposed in the nationwide clampdown on the sporting sector.
Li, who was a midfielder for the English Premier League side Everton in the 2000s, was convicted on Friday of taking more than 110 million yuan (US$15.1 million) in bribes between 2015 and 2021.
An intermediate court in China's Hubei province handed down the conviction and sentence after Li pleaded guilty to the charges in a trial in March, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
China jailed two more former top football officials for bribery on Wednesday, court statements showed, following a sweeping crackdown on corruption in the domestic game.
Liu Yi, who was secretary general of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), was handed an 11-year sentence and fined 3.6 million yuan (US$497,000) for taking bribes, a court in central Hubei province said.
A separate court in the same province said Tan Hai, former head of the CFA's referees management office, was given six-and-a-half years and a 200,000 yuan fine.
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Editor: Crystal H
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