Former China coach pleads guilty to taking over $10mn in bribes

Former China football coach and ex-Everton midfielder Li Tie pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting over $10mn in bribes, a court said, part of a broader crackdown on corruption in Chinese football. His former boss, the discredited Chinese Football Association chairman Chen Xuyuan, was jailed for life this week for taking bribes worth $11mn.

China’s legal system is tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party and courts have a near-100 percent conviction rate in criminal cases. Local journalists gathered in front of the court in central Hubei province where 46-year-old Li’s case was heard.

Li, who was China coach from January 2020 until December 2021, is accused of giving and taking bribes, as well as participating in match fixing, the Hubei court said in a statement.

Li accepted more than 77mn yuan* ($10.7mn) in bribes from 2017 to 2021, including during his time working as coach for the Wuhan Zall club, the court said.

“Li Tie made his final statement, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse,” the court said, adding that a sentence would be announced at a later date. Li, who played in the Premier League 34 times between 2002 and 2004, featured in a documentary aired by state broadcaster CCTV in January about widespread corruption in Chinese football.

CCTV regularly airs confessions by criminal suspects before they have appeared in court, a practice widely condemned by rights groups. In the programme, Li said he had arranged nearly $421,000 in bribes to secure the head coach position, and helped to fix matches when he was a club coach in the Chinese Super League.

Li played nearly 100 games for China.

FOREST’S DOUBLE EUROPEAN CUP WINNER LLOYD DIES

Larry Lloyd, twice a European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, has died aged 75, the English Premier League club announced. Lloyd, who also won the old First Division title and UEFA Cup with Liverpool in the early 1970s, was a key member of the Forest side that won successive European Cups under celebrated manager Brian Clough.

The defender won four England caps and later managed Wigan and Notts County after the end of a trophy-laden career as a player.

Lloyd began his career with local side Bristol Rovers before being signed by legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly for £50,000 in 1969. Liverpool won the league and UEFA Cup double in 1973, with Lloyd, impressively, playing in every game of that successful season.