On August 2, CCTV News reported that Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese Men’s National Football Team, is currently under investigation for multiple offenses including bribery, accepting and giving bribes as a non-state employee, and corporate bribery. The case has now moved to the prosecution stage.
In response to the numerous issues surrounding Li Tie’s case, lawyer Wei Yuexue from the Beijing Huatian Law Firm stated that based on the information related to Li Tie’s case, Li Tie could potentially be sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty. Furthermore, prominent lawyer Lin Bing believes that, according to the announcement, Li Tie’s sentence would likely be at least life imprisonment, with a strong chance of a suspended death sentence.
It is widely believed that Li Tie will not receive a lenient sentence, as the amount of money involved in the case could be staggering. Among other unknowns, a widely circulated anecdote mentions that upon learning of Li Tie’s wrongdoings, former Chinese Football Association chairman, Chen Xuyuan, advised Li Tie to return the 48 million yuan annual salary and signing fee from Wuhan Changjiang. However, he refused! Just this 48 million yuan alone could bring him severe punishment. It’s worth mentioning that in previous similar corruption cases in Chinese football, the harshest sentence was just over 10 years. For example, Xie Yalong was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months for being involved in a case amounting to just over 1.36 million yuan. Compared to this, Li Tie’s situation is extremely serious.
Another point to note is that earlier reports suggested that Li Tie has several hundred million yuan in deposits in a certain bank.
During Li Tie’s tenure as head coach of the Chinese Men’s National Football Team, he led the team to the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers. His widespread restrictions on naturalized players – who were expensively imported by China – caused widespread dissatisfaction in the country. For example, minutes before the national team was scored against by Oman, Li Tie made a controversial substitution, removing the naturalized player Aloísio, also known as Luo Guofu, from the field. It was this substitution that led to the Chinese team being leveled by Oman. After all, Luo Guofu’s performance in that game was excellent, and when he was substituted, he clearly indicated he could still play. After the game, Li Tie’s substitutions were bombarded by fans, who called for him to be dismissed.
Public information shows that Li Tie was born in May 1977 and was selected to study in Brazil with the Jianlibao team. He has been selected to the national team multiple times and participated in the Korea-Japan World Cup. He later joined the English Premier League team, Everton. After retiring, Li Tie successively served as assistant coach of the Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Club, assistant coach of the Chinese Men’s National Football Team, head coach of the Huaxia Fortune Club, head coach of the Wuhan Zhuo’er Club, and head coach of the National Men’s Football Selection Team. He took office as head coach of the Chinese Men’s National Football Team in January 2020 and stepped down in December 2021.
In mid-November of last year, news of “Former National Team Head Coach Li Tie Being Investigated” was widely spread online. At that time, some media personnel reported that Li Tie, who is a lecturer, did not show up on the last day of a recent professional coaching training class. He also did not appear for subsequent World Cup commentary work until the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Li Tie was under investigation.
On the morning of April 6 this year, at the 2023 National Sports General Administration Party Style and Clean Government Construction and Anti-Corruption Work Conference, Hu Guangyu, Liu Aijie, Chen Xuyuan, Yu Hongchen, Liu Yi, Li Tie, Wang Xiaoping, Chen Yongliang, Huang Song, Dong Zheng, and others were reported one by one, sending a deterrent effect. An additional six heads of departments and units were commended for resisting great pressure and firmly fighting against corruption and misconduct.
From the aforementioned list of high-level figures in Chinese football who have been investigated, many were Li Tie’s direct superiors during his time with the national team. Several leaders of the Football Association also had influence over Li Tie during his time at the club. Li Tie, who was once known as the “undying runner” when he was an athlete, has now entered the public prosecution stage of the anti-corruption campaign. Those corrupt individuals who accepted bribes from “undying runner” Li Tie will eventually be brought to light.