The former vice president of the Chinese Football Association has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined 1 million yuan ($139,579.03) for taking bribes, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday, citing a court ruling
Li Yuyi‘s sentence follows probes into more than a dozen high-level soccer officials since late 2022.
Fu Xiang, a former director of the sport’s administrative centre in provincial capital Wuhan and vice-chairman of the Wuhan Football Association, was also sentenced to 11 years in prison by a court in Hubei, reports the South China Morning Post.
Fu was guilty of embezzlement, taking and giving bribes, reports the Morning Post, citing state news agency Xinhua.
The sport has long grappled with corruption, which fans have blamed for the enduring underperformance of the national team. In 2012, two former chiefs of the same soccer association were each sentenced to 10-1/2 years in jail for taking bribes.
