The China Football Association, CFA, has issued a lifetime ban on 73 violators for indulging in match fixing and other acts of corruption.
The CFA slammed the ban on former national team head coach, Li Tie alongside others including 13 top tier club football clubs in an anti-corruption crackdown, sweeping through the country’s football in recent years, exposing the rotten state of the professional game.
In the enforcement, several top officials in the body have been brought down, while dozens of players are banned for gambling.
The FA held that the punishments were made after a systematic review in the quest to enforce industry discipline, purify the football environment and also maintain fair competition.
In a statement released on Thursday, the organization stated that Li, a former player for Everton in England, is already on a 20-year prison sentence for bribery following a court trial in December 2024, and now banned from all sporting activities.
Others sanctioned include Chen Xuyuan, former Chairman of the CFA, who is already in prison for accepting bribes worth $11 million.
The body also informed that 11 out of the 16 clubs who competed in the 2025 season will have points docked and will also be fined, meaning nine clubs will start next season with negative points, with stiffest of the sanctions imposed on Tianjin JinmenTiger and Shangai Shenhua, both also facing 10 point deduction and one million Yuan fine.
Shanghai Port alongside Beijing Guoan, will be deducted five points, as well as a 400,000 Yuan fine.
”We will always maintain a zero-tolerance deterrent and high-pressure punitive force, and investigate and deal with any violation of discipline or regulations in football as soon as they are discovered, without any leniency or tolerance,” a statement by the CFA reads in part.
