Former Chinese soccer star and coach Li Tie has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption.
The reports were stated by State Media on Friday 13th December.
According to CNN, the Ex-coach was sentenced for multiple counts of bribery by a court in the city of Wuhan as reported by the State broadcaster CCTV.
Photo: Courtesy
During the March trial, prosecutors accused Li of accepting more than 50 million Yuan ($6.8million) in bribes between 2019 and 2021 while he was serving as the head coach of China’s National select team.
In exchange to the bribe, the former coach granted favors to certain players to be selected into the national team and help certain clubs to win matches.
To become head coach, Li and the club he was coaching at that time arranged bribes totaling 3 million yuan (US$412,800) to help him secure the role as said in the court.
He also fixed matches for the two clubs he coached in Chinese leagues between 2015 and 2019.
Li Tie aged 47 played for the English Premier League Everton alongside Rooney in the early 2000s.
In 2002, Li along with Star defender Sun Jihai of Manchester City made history as the first Chinese players to play in the English Premier League.
China’s national Men’s team suffered a disappointing elimination in the preliminary stage of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
