Disgraced Former China Soccer Coach Admits Match Fixing, Bribery

Li Tie, former head coach of China’s national men’s soccer team, has admitted he fixed matches for lower-level clubs and bribed his way up to the top coaching role over the past decade, the confession coming in a state-backed documentary that revealed “all-round” corruption in the sport.

The 46-year-old veteran star midfielder admitted to paying a total of 3 million yuan ($418,000) in 2019 in order to get the head coach role, of which 2 million yuan went to the then Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Chen Xuyuan and the rest to CFA’s then secretary-general, according to the televised series’ final episode that aired Tuesday.