Cracking down on ‘corruption' to punish sports officials
Whether it is football, athletics, canoeing or winter sports, officials and coaches have been caught up by the justice system. In the latest case, the 47-year-old former coach of the men's national football team Li Tie began serving a 20-year prison term today. Meanwhile, the former head of the Administration of Sports Gou Zhongwen, was kicked out of the party and is awaiting trial. In March, Yu Hongchen, former Chinese Athletics Federation president, was sentenced to 13 years. Despite suspicions over doping, swimming has not been touched.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese sports have been shaken by a series of court cases. The latest concern the former coach of the Chinese men's national football team who was sentenced to 20 years in prison while the head of General Administration of Sport was dismissed from his post and expelled from the Party, both on charges of corruption.
This is part of a series of purges undertaken by Chinese President Xi Jinping in various sectors of the country's public life – politics, military, society – to crush internal dissent or – more simply – silence unwelcome voices.
From football and athletics to winter sports and rowing, many sports officials have been first purged and then brought to trial and given long prison sentences.
The list of those caught up in the anti-corruption campaign includes Li Yaguang, former vice-president of the Chinese Basketball Association; Liu Aijie, former president of the Chinese Rowing Association and vice-president of the International Canoe Federation; and Yu Hongchen, president of the Chinese Athletics Association.
Xinhua today reported the end of the trial of 47-year-old Li Tie (pictured), the men's national football coach, who had "pleaded" guilty earlier this year. Accused of corruption, he admitted to taking more than US$ 10 million in bribes.
He served as national team coach from January 2020 to December 2021, taking over from Marcello Lippi, the former coach of Italy’s national team and 2006 world champion.
Li was also a good player, one of China’s best-known footballers abroad who played in the English Premier League for Everton and Sheffield United, as well as racking up nearly 100 international caps.
Today Gou Zhongwen, former head of the General Administration of Sport, was reportedly expelled from the party and dismissed from all public offices. The Global Times writes that he was guilty of “corruption, abuse of power and dereliction of duty,” following an investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission (NSC).
Gou, a former deputy head of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), allegedly damaged the political ecosystem of sports.
Unauthorised travel, dinners and banquets, bribes are some of the offences pinned on him, along with illegal expenses, false information during investigations, and leveraging his position to manipulate the selection and appointment of officials for personal gain.
Further investigations show that Gou used his authority to assist relatives in business ventures, engaged in power-sex trade, mishandled confidential documents during sports-related construction projects and acquisitions, and participated in significant power-for-money exchanges.
In addition to the confiscation of his illicit gains and expulsion from the party, he has been referred to judicial authorities for further prosecution, which is likely to end in harsh sentences.
The authorities began to crack down in sports in late 2022 with investigations, expulsions, trials and imprisonment; however, so far, no one has been brought to justice on doping charges despite strong suspicions, in disciplines like swimming, because winning medals in international competitions is more important.
Last March, a court in Hubei, a province in central China, sentenced Yu Hongchen, a former president of the Chinese Athletics Federation, to 13 years in prison and a fine of over US$ 280,000, for taking bribes.
The court found that between 2010 and 2023, Yu took advantage of his various positions related to China's football and athletics sectors to seek profits for others on issues such as business operations, league promotion and job competition. In return, he illegally accepted money and valuables worth more than 22.54 million yuan (US$ 3.1 million).
Others have been caught up in recent weeks, like Liu Yi, secretary general of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), who on Wednesday was handed an 11-year prison sentence, and a fine worth 3.6 million yuan (almost US$ 500,000) for taking bribes.
On the same day, the former head of the CFA's Referees Management Section, Tan Hai, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and a fine of 200,000 yuan (US$ 28,000) for the same offence. Before them, Qi Jun, CFA's ex-chief of strategic planning, was sentenced to seven years and a fine of 600,000 yuan (US$ 84,000).
In March the CFA’s former head, Chen Xuyuan, was given a life sentence for accepting bribes, evidence that the crackdown singled out football, a sport that Xi Jinping particularly likes.
The president would like to host, and win, a major international tournament but, at least so far, the national and club teams percent have not achieved any major results.
In fact, China is 90th in FIFA rankings, one position above the small Caribbean island of Curaçao. This, too, is perhaps one of the reasons behind the purges.
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