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Li Tie, once hailed as a national soccer icon, has fallen from grace faster than a failed penalty kick. The former Chinese soccer star and coach of the national men's team has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption, marking another chapter in China's sweeping crackdown on graft in professional soccer.
Li, 47, was found guilty of accepting over 50 million yuan ($6.8 million) in bribes between 2019 and 2021 during his tenure as head coach. Prosecutors revealed he accepted payments in exchange for player selections and match-fixing favors—a far cry from his days as a midfielder for Everton alongside Wayne Rooney.
Ironically, Li once despised match-fixers as a player. But as he confessed in a state-broadcasted documentary, "Achieving success through improper means became a habit." This shortcut ultimately cost him his freedom and tarnished his legacy as one of China's best players.
Li isn't the only one caught in the net. Former Chinese Football Association head Chen Xuyuan received a life sentence earlier this year, highlighting the depth of corruption in the sport. Despite President Xi Jinping's ambitions to make China a soccer superpower, the league remains mired in scandal and underperformance.
Li's sentencing comes as a harsh reminder that even national heroes can fall. For Chinese soccer fans, it's a bitter pill to swallow. Li, once a beacon of hope who played in the 2002 World Cup, has now become a symbol of the very problems plaguing the sport he once loved.
