
A former Chinese soccer star and coach, Li Tie, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption. Li, who played for the English Premier League Everton in the early 2000s, is the latest casualty in China's crackdown on corruption in professional soccer.
Despite efforts to elevate China's soccer status on the global stage, the sport has been plagued by financial mismanagement, corruption, and underwhelming performance. Following China's disappointing elimination in the preliminary stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, an investigation into bribery and match-fixing was launched.