The former Everton FC player Li Tie will spend this year’s holidays behind bars after committing serious offence.
The 47-year-old, who was the head coach of the China national team from January 2020 to December 2021, pleaded guilty in March to taking over $16 million in bribes.
The former footballer was found guilty of “leveraging his positions” during his tenure as manager by a court in the city of Xianning.
The court heard this happened from 2015, when he was an assistant coach at the Hebei China Fortune Club, until 2021, when he quit as head coach of the national team.
According to BBC news, Li Tie would select certain individuals for the national team and help football clubs win competitions in exchange for the bribes. The incident is the latest in a series of corruption cases within Chinese football.
The former president of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Xuyuan, received a life prison sentence earlier this year for accepting bribes worth $11 million.
Li Tie, who played for Everton from 2002 – 2006, apologised for the offences he committed in an anti-corruption documentary aired on Chinese State broadcaster, CCTV, earlier this year.
After being charged with a murder former Everton midfielder revealed that he should have dealt with situation better.
Li Tie said “I’m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path.
“There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”
Li Tie joined Everton on an initial loan deal in August 2002 as part of a club sponsorship deal with the now-defunct Chinese telecommunications company, Keijan, alongside Li Weifeng.
On his first time he only played twice for the Blues before returning home and manager David Moyes signed the midfielder again but this time was on a permanent deal for £1.2million the following summer.
Li Tie went to register 40 matches in total before his Goodison Park career was hampered by a broken leg picked up during training while on international duty.
BY LUCKY SEANEGO
