Two former soccer bosses were each handed 10 1/2 years in prison for corruption and eight other big names in the sport, including former players in the national team, were also punished for graft yesterday.
Former Chinese Football Association (CFA) vice-chairman Nan Yong was charged with 17 counts of taking bribes worth more than 1.19 million yuan between 1999 and 2009.
Another former CFA vice-chairman, Xie Yalong , who was in office from 2005 to 2009, was charged with 12 counts of accepting advantages in excess of 1.7 million yuan. Xie, 57, denied some of the charges and told a Dandong court in April that his confession had been extracted through torture.
Both men were also ordered to pay 200,000 yuan in fines.
Xie's lawyer said after a hearing on April 24 that his client had been subjected to various forms of torture - including electric shocks, slaps to the face and sleep deprivation. Police denied the allegations.
Nan, 50, had earlier pleaded guilty at a court in Tieling, Liaoning province, and his lawyer said that his client was considering appealing the recent verdict.
Nan, who was in charge of all the men's national teams and domestic leagues, was arrested in 2010 and accused of paying off referees in the country's top league. He admitted selling spots on the national team to players for 100,000 yuan when he was chef de mission of China's World Cup squad in 2002, when he led the team to its first World Cup final.