Hubei court upholds 20-year sentence of former Chinese national football team head coach Li Tie

The Higher People's Court of Hubei Province ruled on Wednesday to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict against Li Tie, former head coach of China’s national men’s football team, according to CCTV News.

Li was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a first-instance verdict issued by the Intermediate People’s Court of Xianning, in central China’s Hubei Province, in December 2024. He was convicted on multiple charges, including offering and accepting bribes.

According to the indictment, from 2019 to 2021, Li, leveraging his position as the head coach of the national team, assisted relevant organizations and individuals in matters such as player selection for the national team, match outcomes, and signing contracts with clubs. He illegally received more than 50.89 million yuan ($7 million) in total during this period, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

He was also charged with multiple bribery offenses committed from 2015 to 2019 when he worked for local football clubs, according to the report.

The main point of contention in both trials was the issue of identity classification, which formed the core of Li’s appeal. Li and his defense team argued that he was not a state functionary, and therefore should not be subject to charges applicable to state functionaries. Under Chinese law, bribery involving state functionaries carries a sentence of more than 10 years to life imprisonment, while bribery involving non-state functionaries carries a sentence of 5 to 15 years, according to CCTV News.

Following the second-instance verdict, if Li still does not accept the ruling, he may, in accordance with legal procedures, apply for a retrial with the Supreme People’s Court within six months of the judgment taking effect, CCTV News reported.

The former Everton player, 47, was placed under investigation in November 2022 and stood trial in March in 2024.