​Chen Suyuan, the former president of the Chinese Football Federation from 2019 to 2023, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, has been sentenced to life in prison as part of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign targeting sports in the country, AFP reported, citing state media.

Chen Suyuan, life imprisonment for bribery

Chen Suyuan used his position to “illegally accept sums of money from other people totaling 81.03 million yuan,” which is 10.4 million euros, according to the People’s Daily.

In the end, the Hubei Provincial Court sentenced him to “life imprisonment for receiving bribes, lifelong loss of political rights and confiscation of all his personal property.”

The trial of the 67-year-old former leader comes amid a bleak situation for Chinese football, with the national team ignominiously knocked out of the Asian Cup and the sport’s image tarnished by embezzlement.

President Xi Jinping, a soccer fan himself, had big ambitions for the national team. But the team, often derided by the Chinese, remains in 79th place in the FIFA rankings, where it was a decade ago.

The convictions are part of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi Jinping a decade ago. A total of ten high-ranking Chinese football officials have been sacked for corruption.

The former general manager of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Dong Zheng, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Other sentences are expected.

Among them could be former Chinese coach Li Tie, who has been under investigation for corruption since 2022 and is currently in pre-trial detention.

A former Everton player, he admitted that he helped buy several matches that saw the Chinese second division teams he managed get promoted before Wuhan Zall, where he was manager, snapped him up to pay Chen Suyuan two million yuan (255,000 euros) in the form of a bribe for securing his position as a selector, News.ro reports.