Former China coach Li Tie loses appeal against 20-year bribery sentence

BEIJING (Agencies): Former China coach Li Tie has lost his appeal against a 20-year prison sentence handed down late last year for giving and receiving bribes, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. Li, one of his country’s best known players from his time as a midfielder in the English Premier League and the national team at the 2002 World Cup, was coach of China from late 2019 until resigning two years later. A Xianning court alleged that from 2015, when he was an assistant coach at the Hebei China Fortune club, until 2021, when he quit as China coach, Li gave and received bribes totalling 120 million yuan ($16.51 million). In exchange for bribes, the court had said, Li would select certain individuals for the national team as well as help clubs win competitions and sign players. The 47-year-old had submitted a guilty plea and was sentenced on December 13, with Hubei Provincial Higher People’s Court upholding the sentence on Wednesday.