Two soccer officials on trial for accepting bribes

Two former soccer officials stood on trial on Tuesday charged for accepting bribes in courts in central China's Hubei province.

The Intermediate People's Court of Xianning, Hubei, publicly heard the case of Liu Yi, the former secretary-general of the Chinese Football Association, on charges of accepting bribes.

In August 2019, Liu was elected as a member of the 11th Executive Committee of the CFA. He served as the CFA's secretary-general from August 2019 to January 2023. Liu was dismissed from his CFA post and placed under investigation in January 2023.

According to a documentary exposing corruption in the soccer sector produced by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and broadcasted on CCTV in January of this year, Liu accepted one million yuan ($140,000) offered by Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese men's team, to support Li in winning the position of head coach of the Chinese men's soccer national selection team and later the position of head coach of the Chinese men's team.

In another case, the People's Court of Shishou, Hubei, publicly heard the case of Tan Hai, the former director of the CFA's referee management department on charges of accepting bribes.

Tan, born in Shandong province in 1970, became a national-level referee in 1995 and was accredited as an international-level referee by the CFA in 2004. He was named referee of the year in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015 by the CFA Super League. He was placed under investigation in July 2023.

Both Liu and Tan were investigated by a discipline inspection and supervision team stationed at the General Administration of Sport of China, dispatched by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision, as well as the Hubei provincial commission of supervision.

On Monday, two courts in Hubei heard the bribery cases of two other former soccer officials — Qi Jun, the former director of the CFA's strategic planning department, and Liu Gang, the former vice chairman of the Chengdu Football Association in Sichuan province.

Since last week, courts in Hubei have sentenced several former soccer officials as part of an ongoing anti-graft effort in the sports field, including former CFA vice chairman Li Yuyi and former head of the CFA's competition department Huang Song.