Former CFA secretary-general Liu Yi

Two former Chinese Football Association (CFA) senior officials were sentenced to years in prison for accepting bribes on Wednesday, as the anti-corruption storm in Chinese football continues.

Liu Yi, former secretary-general of the CFA, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a fine of 3.6 million yuan ($496,000) on the crime of accepting bribes by the Intermediate People's Court of Xianning in Central China's Hubei Province.

Liu was appointed the CFA secretary-general in 2018 and was re-elected for the role in 2019. He was put under investigation in January 2023.

In a high-profile anti-corruption documentary aired earlier this year, former Chinese national team head coach Li Tie said he bribed Liu 1 million yuan to become the national team head coach.

Referee Tan Hai

Tan Hai, former head of the Referee Management Department of the CFA, was sentenced by the People's Court of Shishou in Hubei to six and a half years in prison and a fine of 200,000 yuan for accepting bribes.

Tan won the Golden Whistle award for Best Referee in the domestic top-tier Chinese Super League in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015 before being appointed as the director of the CFA Referee Management Department in January 2018. 

The duo's first-instance verdict comes a day after Qi Jun, former director of the Strategic Planning Department of the CFA, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined 600,000 yuan.

Since November 2022, a total of 18 Chinese football-related officials have been put under investigation due to corruption allegations. Thirteen of them have been sentenced, with Li Tie and Du Zhaocai, former vice sports minister, awaiting verdicts.