Amidst a broad campaign against sports corruption, Chen Xuyuan, the former president of the Chinese Football Association, was given a life sentence.
Chinese courts on Tuesday handed down sentences of between eight years and life in prison to officials in the Communist Party-controlled sports programs, accusing them of taking bribes and committing other financial crimes.
The former CFA president received a life sentence for helping fix matches and using his various positions to commit financial crimes, state media reported.
Xinhua reported that all of Chen’s personal property would be confiscated, and his illegal gains would be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.
High-ranking officials who were sentenced to prison for accepting bribes included Dong Zheng, the former CEO of the Chinese Football Association Super League Company, who was sentenced to eight years, former high-ranking soccer official Chen Yongliang, who was sentenced to fourteen years, and former head of the National Athletics Association, Hong Chen, who was sentenced to thirteen years.
Real estate companies that have overextended themselves and are unable to deliver completed apartments or repay their debts are the league’s main supporters.
The payments to players whom they hoped would make them ever-bigger in China and possibly international brand names have come askew amid concerns about company finances in the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s domestic soccer leagues have long struggled with corruption and financial instability, while the national men’s and women’s teams languish in the international ranks, despite earlier successes.
Corruption in the sport is mainly linked to payoffs to players and referees to produce an outcome that benefits gambling syndicates.
There have also been allegations that payments were made to gain players spots at training camps for top teams, including the men’s national squad, which is now ranked 88th by FIFA. The Chinese women’s team occupies 19th place.
The head of state and leader of the ruling Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, had previously declared his intention to turn China into a football superpower by enrolling kids in brand-new academies and building thousands of new fields.
The possibility for those objectives to be successful has been hampered by the economic downturn and government involvement in private industry, sports, and culture.
