Chinese court hands former FA boss life sentence

country’s former FA boss to life in prison after convicting him on corruption charges. This came amid a wide-ranging crackdown on sports corruption by the Beijing authorities.Chinese state media reported on Tuesday that a court in the central Chinese province of Hubei handed former Chinese Football Association (CFA) President Chen Xuyuan a life sentence after having found him guilty of helping fix matches and using his various positions to commit financial crimes.

The court found that between 2010 and 2023 Chen had accepted bribes and valuables worth more than 81 million yuan (€10.3 million, $11.2 million). The official Xinhua news agency reported that all of Chen’s personal property would be confiscated, and his illegal gains would be recovered and submitted to China’s state treasury. Other high-ranking sports officials received prison sentences for accepting bribes.

Among these were the former head of the National Athletics Association, Hong Chen, who was sentenced to 13 years; former high-ranking football official Chen Yongliang, who got 14 years; and Dong Zheng, the former CEO of the Chinese Football Association Super League Company, who was given an eight-year sentence.