Li Tie, exentrenador del equipo de fútbol masculino de China, ha recibido una condena de 20 años de cárcel tras admitir múltiples cargos de soborno. Según medios estatales, Li confesó haber aceptado sobornos, realizar pagos para asegurar su puesto como entrenador y manipular partidos a lo largo de su carrera. Este caso representa otro ejemplo importante de corrupción revelado en la campaña continua de China contra el fraude, que se ha extendido a diversos sectores como el deporte, la banca y el ejército.
Li Tie, the former head coach of China’s national men’s football team, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to numerous bribery charges. According to state media, Li confessed to accepting bribes, offering payments to secure his coaching position, and manipulating matches during his career. This case marks another significant instance of corruption uncovered in China’s ongoing anti-graft campaign, which has expanded across various sectors, including sports, banking, and the military.
Li, a former Premier League player for Everton, pleaded guilty in March to taking over $16 million in bribes. These activities reportedly began in 2015, when Li served as an assistant coach at the Hebei China Fortune Club, and continued until his resignation as head coach of the national team in 2021. In exchange for the illicit payments, Li allegedly influenced team selections and aided football clubs in securing victories.
The 47-year-old’s downfall is part of a broader corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping. Xi has prioritized rooting out corruption in Chinese football, a sport he has long envisioned as a potential source of national pride. However, the latest revelations of widespread misconduct have dealt a blow to China’s ambitions of becoming a global football powerhouse.
Li’s sentencing highlights a system plagued by corrupt practices, with several high-profile figures within Chinese football also facing scrutiny. Earlier this week, three former officials from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) were convicted on similar charges. In total, more than a dozen coaches and players have been investigated as part of the sweeping anti-corruption efforts.
El antiguo superior de Li, Chen Xuyuan, que previamente ocupó el cargo de presidente de la CFA, fue condenado a cadena perpetua a principios de 2024. Chen fue hallado culpable de aceptar sobornos que suman 11 millones de dólares. Su caso, junto con el de Li, refleja la magnitud de la corrupción entre los altos funcionarios encargados de supervisar el desarrollo del fútbol en China.
The campaign against corruption in football parallels a similar initiative from 2010, which led to the imprisonment of numerous officials, players, and referees for match-fixing and bribery. Xi Jinping, who was the vice president at the time, also led that effort. Nevertheless, corruption has continued, and the current crackdown is seen by analysts as a reprise of earlier efforts, though this time involving significantly larger amounts of money.
Rowan Simons, a football analyst and the author of Bamboo Goalposts
, provided an analysis of the hurdles confronting Chinese football. In a conversation with the BBC earlier this year, he commented, “This campaign closely mirrors the events of ten years ago, just involving different people and on a significantly larger financial scale.” Simons believes that inherent problems within the sport have enabled corruption to thrive despite prior attempts to tackle it.
La carrera futbolística de Li Tie comenzó de manera prometedora, ya que el excentrocampista jugó 92 partidos para China y participó en la única aparición del país en la Copa del Mundo en 2002. Su paso a la dirección técnica inicialmente aparentaba ser exitoso, llevando a su nombramiento como entrenador del equipo nacional en 2020. Sin embargo, su mandato terminó envuelto en controversia al renunciar en 2021 en medio de crecientes acusaciones de mala conducta.
Los casos de corrupción han oscurecido la visión de Xi Jinping de llevar al fútbol chino a un nivel internacional destacado. Xi delineó sus «tres deseos» para el deporte en 2011: que China se clasifique para otra Copa del Mundo, que eventualmente sea sede del torneo y que finalmente gane el campeonato. A pesar de las importantes inversiones en infraestructura futbolística y programas de entrenamiento, estas ambiciones han sido socavadas por los escándalos y la mala gestión que siguen afectando al deporte.
El impacto de las recientes condenas va más allá de los castigos individuales, planteando cuestiones más amplias sobre la gobernanza del fútbol chino. Los arrestos y sentencias de figuras como Li Tie y Chen Xuyuan destacan los desafíos de erradicar la corrupción en un sistema donde ha estado profundamente arraigada durante años. Los críticos señalan que, aunque las campañas aborden casos específicos de mala conducta, no logran enfrentar las estructuras subyacentes que permiten que la corrupción continúe.
The impact of the recent convictions extends beyond individual punishments, raising broader questions about the governance of Chinese football. The arrests and sentencing of figures like Li Tie and Chen Xuyuan highlight the challenges of eradicating corruption in a system where it has been deeply entrenched for years. Critics argue that while crackdowns address specific instances of misconduct, they fail to tackle the underlying structures that enable corruption to persist.
La campaña más amplia contra la corrupción, que se extiende mucho más allá del fútbol, ha apuntado a figuras prominentes en diversas industrias. El gobierno de Xi Jinping ha presentado estos esfuerzos como esenciales para mantener la confianza pública y asegurar la integridad de las instituciones chinas. No obstante, los críticos han cuestionado si las campañas se centran tanto en consolidar el poder político como en abordar realmente la corrupción.
The broader anti-corruption campaign, which extends far beyond football, has targeted high-profile figures across various industries. Xi Jinping’s government has framed these efforts as essential to maintaining public trust and ensuring the integrity of Chinese institutions. However, critics have questioned whether the campaigns are as much about consolidating political power as they are about addressing corruption.
As Li Tie begins his 20-year prison sentence, the focus shifts to whether the recent crackdown will lead to meaningful reform within Chinese football. Observers remain skeptical, noting that similar campaigns in the past have failed to produce lasting change. For now, the sentencing of Li and other officials symbolizes both the scale of the problem and the difficulty of eradicating corruption in a sport that has long been synonymous with national aspirations and systemic challenges.
