Former Chinese Football Association (CFA) president Chen Suyuan has been sentenced to life in prison for bribery, according to state media. In January, he confessed to accepting bribes totaling 81 million yuan (more than 260 million crowns).
The anti-corruption measures led by President Xi Jinping hit sports, banking and the military, the website writes about the affair BBC. In football, more than ten high-ranking coaches and players have been investigated so far, according to the British station.
A trial at the Central People’s Court in Huangshi, central China, revealed that Chen committed illegal activities between 2010 and 2023. Prosecutors said Chen accepted money and valuables in exchange for help in securing project contracts and organizing sports events. According to the court’s ruling, he caused “enormous damage” to Chinese football, the state-controlled New China News Agency reported, according to the BBC.
The reputation of the Football Association in China has suffered recently – earlier this year, former Everton midfielder and former head coach of the Chinese men’s national football team, Li Tie, admitted to match-fixing and offering bribes to people, including Chen, to win the post of China’s top coach.
In the past, President Xi Jinping has repeatedly expressed his ambitions to make China a major football country, as Seznam Zprávy reported, for example, here. In 2011, he spoke of his “three wishes” for Chinese football: to qualify for the World Cup again, host the tournament and win the trophy once.
Over the past decade, Chinese Super League clubs have spent huge sums to attract some of the world’s best players, including Brazilian midfielder Oscar, former Argentina striker Carlos Tévez and Belgium international Axel Witsel. However, this led to clubs going into debt and the CFA had to declare a salary cap in 2020.
At the time, league officials said the move was aimed at focusing investment on developing homegrown talent instead of importing international stars. Now only a small number of foreign players remain in the league. The recent detention of prominent football figures has only meant another complication for the country’s football ambitions.
