Corruption ‘everywhere’ in Chinese football, ex-head of governing body says in TV confession

Former Chinese Football Association boss Chen Xuyuan made the admission in a documentary aired on state television

It also featured former national team boss and English Premier League player Li Tie admitting to match-fixing to boost his coaching career

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In a confession on state television, Chen Xuyuan, former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, said corruption was rife in the sport. Photo: CCTV

Published: 7:00pm, 10 Jan 2024Updated: 12:59pm, 13 Dec 2024

The Communist Party’s top graft-buster says corruption is holding back Chinese football, revealing details of match-fixing and bribery scandals in a documentary aired on state television.

It included confessions of match-fixing and bribery from Li Tie, a former head coach of the men’s national team who represented China at the 2002 World Cup and played for Everton in the English Premier League.

The programme also featured Chen Xuyuan, a former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, who said corruption was rife in the sport.

“The corruption in Chinese football does not only exist in certain individual areas – it’s everywhere, in each and every aspect,” Chen said in the CCTV documentary on Tuesday.

Chen, who was charged with bribery in September, said he had received a “congratulatory” 300,000 yuan (US$42,000) each from two club officials the night before he became CFA boss in 2019, which they said was “the old rules of the game”. “If I tried to clean up the environment, wouldn’t I get myself caught?”

The documentary aired after President Xi Jinping told the graft-buster’s plenary session on Monday that they should “show no mercy” in the campaign against corruption, which has entered its 11th year.