Football: ex-boss of the Chinese federation sentenced to life in prison for corruption

The former president of the Chinese Football Association, who admitted to receiving large bribes, was sentenced to life in prison, state media reported Tuesday, as part of the broader campaign anti-corruption targeting this sport in China.

Chen Xuyuan took advantage of his position to “illegally accept sums of money from other people totaling 81.03 million yuan,” or 10.4 million euros, according to the People's Daily.

A court in Hubei province (central) therefore sentenced him to “life imprisonment for accepting bribes, lifelong loss of his political rights and confiscation of all his personal property”.

The bribes received by Chen Xuyuan were “particularly enormous” and his actions “had serious consequences for the Chinese football sector”, according to the same source.

The trial of the 67-year-old former leader took place in a gloomy context for Chinese football, with a weak national team, ingloriously eliminated from the Asian Cup, and a sporting image eaten away by embezzlement. .

President Xi Jinping, himself a football fan, had great ambitions for the national team, but it, often mocked by the Chinese, remains stuck in 79th place in the FIFA rankings, more or less at the same level. than 10 years ago.

In a resounding documentary on public television CCTV broadcast in January, Chen Xuyuan said he had received bribes from players in the football world wanting to curry favor with him. The latter had made him understand that this was the unspoken rule in the industry, according to him.

Chen Xuyuan was head of the Chinese Football Association, the state body which manages football and acts as a sports federation, between 2019 and 2023.

In the CCTV documentary, Chen Xuyuan said he was unable to enforce anti-corruption rules during his term in office, implying that doing so amounted to investigating himself and people to whom he was beholden.

“Fans can accept the fact that the level of Chinese football is bad. But not forgive corruption,” he conceded. “I would like to deeply apologize to all Chinese fans.”

His conviction is part of a major anti-corruption campaign initiated by Xi Jinping for a decade. In total, around ten senior Chinese football executives were dismissed for corruption.

Decisions concerning four other major cases of corruption in this sport are also expected during the day of Tuesday, according to the New China agency.

This could include former China coach Li Tie, who has been under investigation for corruption since 2022 and is in pre-trial detention.

But in the CCTV documentary broadcast in January, the ex-Everton (Premier League) player admitted to having helped buy several matches which allowed the Chinese second division teams he managed to reach the elite.

And to obtain his position as coach, he had Wuhan Zall, the club of which he was coach, pay two million yuan (255,000 euros) in bribes to Chen Xuyuan.

Li Tie also claimed to have given one million yuan (128,000 euros) from his own pocket to the secretary general of the Chinese Football Federation.

“I regret it very much. I should have stayed down to earth and followed the right path,” the 46-year-old technician said sheepishly on television. “There are certain things that, at the time, were common practices in football.”

Another case that caused a scandal is that of South Korean international footballer Son Jun-ho: accused of “corruption” and detained for ten months in China, where he plays for a club. He has just been released and returned to his country, the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.