Former Chinese national team coach spent 60 billion VND on bribes to get a seat and fix scores

On January 9, China Central Television (CCTV) aired an episode on anti-corruption. Here, coach Li Tie - who was arrested for investigation in 2022 - admitted to bribery.

"I am very sorry. I should have stayed calm and chosen the right path," Li Tie said in the CCTV documentary. "However, some things were common practice in football at that time."

In this program, Mr. Li Tie said he bribed 421,000 USD to become the coach of the national football team as well as thank-you money for helping him fix scores when he was leading Chinese clubs.

In the 2015 season, Hebei China Fortune FC was at a disadvantage in the race for promotion to the Chinese Super League - the top division of Chinese football. Therefore, they invited Li Tie of Guangzhou Evergrande to be their head coach and participated in a bribery and match-fixing ring.

Coach Li Tie's team won 8 "miraculous" victories in the last 9 matches of the season to take 2nd place, thereby securing promotion with a 2-point advantage over the second-placed team, Dalian Aerbin.

In the final match against Shenzhen FC alone, Hebei China Fortune spent nearly $2 million on bribes from the team’s management to its players. Of that, Li Tie gave more than $800,000 and told player Li Fei to share the money with his teammates. However, he kept all the money – a detail that was only revealed during the investigation.

Losing their promotion spot, Dalian Aerbin held a press conference, publicly revealing the match-fixing of their opponents and sending evidence to the Chinese Football Association (CFA). However, this organization protected Hebei China Fortune, so the evidence was worthless. Dalian Aerbin Chairman Shi Xueqing was very upset and repeatedly denounced Li Tie's bribery in the following years via social media.

In 2018, Li Tie used a similar method to bring Wuhan Zall to the Super League.

Next, Li Tie "ran" for the position of head coach of the Chinese national team. Li Tie asked Wuhan Zall Club for help and later repaid the favor. Accordingly, Wuhan Zall bribed CFA President Chen Xuyan nearly 280,000 USD, while Li Tie personally gave 140,000 USD to CFA Secretary General Liu Yi.

Li Tie was then appointed as the head coach of the Chinese national team. He signed a deal worth over $8 million with Wuhan Zall in exchange for calling up four of their players to the national team. At that time, the transfer fees of these players would increase significantly.

"None of them were good enough to play for the national team. I felt ashamed when I looked at the list of players called up to the national team that day," said former Wuhan Zall President Tian Xudong.

Former Vice Minister of Sports Du Zhaocai, who was arrested last October, also appears in the documentary. He covered up match-fixing during a 2022 investigation after receiving millions of dollars in bribes.

On CCTV, former CFA President Chen Xuyan said: "I take responsibility as the President of the association. I must admit my guilt and apologize to Chinese football fans."