The former president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has been sentenced to life in prison for taking $11 million (€10 million) in bribes, Chinese state media reported on Tuesday, as a string of sports officials were also jailed for corruption. During the tenure of current Chinese leader Xi Jinping, there has been a major campaign against official corruption, which has hit China's sports industry hard, especially football.

Former president Chen Xuyuan used his positions in the CFA and other bodies to "illegally accept sums of money from others totalling 81.03 million yuan ($11 million)," the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily reported.

This act of bribery was huge and seriously damaged fair competition and public order. It has had serious consequences for the national football industry," the report said. Similarly, 10 CFA officials and executives, including former national team coach Li Tie, have been dismissed in recent years.

Chen held other positions in football before becoming president of the CFA from 2019 until he was investigated in February 2023. In January 2024, he confessed in a television documentary to taking money from those seeking his favour.

"Fans can accept the fact that the state of Chinese football is bad, but they cannot forgive corruption," he said on television, now jailed for life for his crimes. According to the state news agency Xinhua, verdicts are expected in other major corruption cases. These could include the fate of former coach Li, who is closely linked to Chen.

The former Everton midfielder admitted in a Chinese television documentary last January that he had taken nearly $430,000 in bribes to secure the position and also to help fix matches when he was a club coach. "There were certain things that were common practice in football at the time," he said.

Others convicted in separate but also bribery-related verdicts include former senior CFA official Chen Yongliang, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and former Chinese Super League general manager Dong Zheng, who received eight years. Outside of football but linked to the world of sport, Yu Hongchen, the former president of the Chinese Athletics Association, was also sentenced to 13 years in prison for the same offence, according to local media reports.