2 more top Chinese football officials netted in corruption crackdown

Football has taken centre stage as high-profile sports officials are investigated and sentenced over bribery and match-fixing scandals

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Li Yuyi, a former vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking over 12 million yuan in bribes. Photo: CCTV

Published: 5:05pm, 19 Aug 2024Updated: 5:25pm, 19 Aug 2024

China on Monday handed down two more severe sentences to former senior sports officials involved in the sector’s nationwide corruption scandal.

Li Yuyi, a former vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), was sentenced to 11 years in prison, The Beijing News reported.

He was convicted of taking bribes worth over 12 million yuan (US$1.7 million) between 2004 and 2021, according to the Communist Party-backed paper.

Besides holding his CFA post, Li was the party secretary and head of Shanghai’s Jinshan district, and held several other senior roles during those years.

In its verdict, an intermediate court in central China’s Hubei province said that that Li did favours for football clubs facing relegation, and also helped companies to secure construction projects during his leadership of Jinshan, the CFA, and the Chinese Super League Company – which handles commercial matters for the eponymous major professional football league.

A separate court in Hubei handed down a 11-year sentence to Fu Xiang, a former director of the sport’s administrative centre in provincial capital Wuhan and vice-chairman of the Wuhan Football Association.

Fu was guilty of embezzlement, taking and giving bribes, according to state news agency Xinhua. The court statement did not specify the time frame when the crimes were committed.