FORMER Everton star Li Tie has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery.
Li, 47, confessed to giving and receiving bribes, while also helping to fix matches.
The former China midfielder was appointed manager of his homeland in January 2020, before resigning in December 2021.
An investigation into Li’s conduct between 2015 and 2021 was launched by the Communist Party in November 2022.
In March he pleaded guilty to giving and taking more than £12.6million in bribes.
Featuring in a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV, Li said: “I’m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path.
“There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”
Li is even said to have offered bribes in order to land the China national team job.
His conviction comes as part of President Xi Jinping‘s efforts to crack down on corruption in Chinese sport.
Earlier this year, former Chinese Football Association president Chen Xuyuan was sentence to life in prison after pleading guilty to taking bribes worth £8.9m.
The CFA’s two-year investigation has seen a further 38 players and five club officials slapped with lifetime bans.
Per Reuters, they found that 120 matches involving 41 clubs under their jurisdiction had been fixed.
President Xi is a big football fan, and in 2011 revealed his “three wishes” for the game in China; to qualify for a second World Cup, to host the tournament, and then to win it.
The national team have underachieved badly in recent years, and were eliminated from World Cup 2026 contention in March following defeats to Japan, Vietnam and Oman.
During the last decade, clubs in China went on a huge recruitment drive that included the likes of Hulk, Mousa Dembele, Axel Witsel, Marko Arnautovic and Ramires.
Following a crisis that saw several Chinese Super League clubs land themselves in significant debt, however, a salary cap was introduced in 2020.
Not many high-profile foreign exports have since remained, with former Chelsea star Oscar saying a tearful farewell earlier this month having been one of the last.
Li, meanwhile, was part of the only China side to play at a World Cup in 2002.
He earned 92 caps, and went on to play alongside Wayne Rooney at Everton.
Following 40 appearances during an injury-hit four-year spell with the Toffees, Li moved to Sheffield United before returning to China.
He began his coaching career as Marcello Lippi’s assistant with Guangzhou Evergrande.
Li also assisted Alain Perrin with the China national team in 2014, before moving to Hebei China Fortune, initially as an assistant and then as boss in 2015.
Following another stint as national team No2 he worked as Wuhan manager between 2017 and 2019, before taking on the China job.
