China sentences ex-soccer chief to life in prison in latest crackdown on sports corruption

Hong Kong CNN —

The former head of China’s official soccer association has been sentenced to life in prison by a court in the central Chinese province of Hubei, in the latest crackdown on the country’s corruption-plagued professional football league.

The ex-soccer chief, Chen Xuyuan, was jailed on Tuesday alongside multiple senior sporting executives, according to state media, following a months-long investigation.

Despite Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vision to turn the country into a soccer superpower, its development of high-level professional soccer has been mired by poor financial decision making and deep-rooted corruption.

Chen is among a host of soccer officials ensnared by the ruling Community Party’s ongoing anti-graft probe, which also targeted the association’s former vice-president Yu Hongchen, former national team’s head coach Li Tie, and many others.

Chen also had his assets confiscated and was stripped of his political rights for life, a penalty often slapped on disgraced officials, according to state media.

In sentencing Chen, the Intermediate People’s Court in Huangshi said the defendant leveraged his position to aid companies and individuals he worked with in exchange for monetary rewards, state media reported.

He pocketed $10.6 million (77 million yuan) out of $11.2 million (81 million yuan) he was offered on 217 occasions between 2010 and 2023, according to the court, which called the sum “outlandishly high.”

“[His act] has seriously damaged the order and fairness in the football field and the ecology of the industry, causing severe damages to the national soccer business,” the court said.

Footage showed Chen bowed from the dock. “I hereby apologize to the fans across the country and sincerely