Four incredible facts in the Li Tie case, from hating match-fixing to actively selling.
Original title:Actively promote fake ball and spend 3 million "upper" national football coach … Details of Li Tie corruption case are disclosed.
The annual anti-corruption blockbuster "Continue to Push Forward in Depth" jointly produced by the Propaganda Department of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and CCTV, the fourth episode of "Promoting Three Non-corruptions in One Body" was broadcast on the evening of the 9th.
This episode focuses on a series of corruption cases in the football field. Du Zhaocai, former deputy director of the State Sports General Administration and former party secretary of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Xiaoyuan, former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and Li Tie, former head coach of the China National Men’s Football Team, have appeared in the mirror to repent.
From hating match-fixing to actively promoting match-fixing
Li Tie led the team to overtake twice by fake ball.
Li Tie was able to become the head coach of the national team because he led two Chinese teams into the Super League successfully, which played a good role in his industry position, but in fact there were a lot of fake balls behind it.
The annual anti-corruption blockbuster "Continue to Push Forward in Depth" jointly produced by the Propaganda Department of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and CCTV, the fourth episode of "Promoting Three Non-corruptions in One Body" was broadcast on the evening of the 9th.
This episode focuses on a series of corruption cases in the football field. Du Zhaocai, former deputy director of the State Sports General Administration and former party secretary of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Xiaoyuan, former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and Li Tie, former head coach of the China National Men’s Football Team, have appeared in the mirror to repent.
Li Tie was able to become the head coach of the national team because he led two Chinese teams into the Super League successfully, which played a good role in his industry position, but in fact there were a lot of fake balls behind it.
In August 2015, Li Tie joined Hebei Huaxia Happiness Club as the head coach for the first time. At that time, there were only nine games left in the season, and Huaxia Happiness only ranked sixth. The prospect of overtaking was not optimistic. As soon as Li Tie took office, the club put forward bluntly, hoping that he would use his contacts to buy off his opponents.
Li Tie: When I was a player, I hated people who played fake matches, but I knew it might help our team to increase the chances of overtaking. Being the head coach independently for the first time, I especially want to prove myself.
After Li Tie took office, he played a wave of magical eight-game winning streak in the last eight games of the season, which made Huaxia Happiness finally lead the competitors by one point and overtook them successfully.
After investigation, the so-called miracle of overtaking is completely manipulated by the hand of money. For example, in the last game of the season, Huaxia Happiness must win or draw to ensure the overtaking, and the club spent 14 million yuan for this. The official level of Shenzhen Yuheng Club accepted the huge sum of happiness from China and agreed to "release water".
For the sake of multiple insurance, Li Tie’s coaching team is responsible for buying off the opposing players directly from the individual level. Li Tie instructed Zheng Bin, a teaching assistant, to contact Li Fei, the main defender of Shenzhen team.
Zheng Bin: Our strength should surpass that of Shenzhen Yuheng. We can win if we play normally, but we want to ensure 100% win in this way.
Li Fei offered 6 million yuan, saying that he would help them manage a number of key players, and Huaxia Happiness agreed. Ironically, if it hadn’t been for this survey, no one would have known that Li Fei had actually absorbed the 6 million yuan himself.
Li Fei: Actually, I didn’t find anyone, because at that time, regardless of the right time, the right place and the right people, China had the advantage. We were away at that time, and we had just finished relegation, and our hearts had already dispersed. Just thinking about the last game, everyone won’t get hurt, and we will have a holiday after playing.
As Li Fei judged, his interception of the 6 million yuan did not affect Huaxia Happiness’s final victory of 2-0.
Li Tie: I have achieved "success" in this improper way, and I have become more and more eager for quick success. In order to achieve results, it has become a habit to find referees to do work and buy off opposing players and coaches.
Li Tie tasted the sweetness of fake ball in Huaxia Happiness Club. By 2017, when he was hired as the head coach of Wuhan Zall Club, he began to actively promote fake ball to the club. Egged on by Li Tie, Wuhan Zall Club also decided to spare no expense. On October 6, 2018, Wuhan Zall succeeded in three rounds ahead of schedule.
The night before he was elected president of China Football Association.
Local leaders each sent 300,000 yuan to "worship the pier"
An important reason is that China Football Association, which should be responsible for supervision, has been lured into the club’s capital game for many years, not only leaving bad style alone, but even taking the initiative to help the club seek illegitimate interests in relegation, access, referee’s punishment and schedule arrangement.
On August 22nd, 2019, Chen Xiaoyuan was elected as the sixth president of China Football Association. The night before he was elected, two local football association leaders knocked on his door one after another, and each sent 300 thousand yuan to "worship the pier". Please ask him to take care of him.
Before Chen Xiaoyuan took office, he felt the huge benefits hidden in this circle and then willingly fell into it. Over the past few years, he has received tens of millions of yuan from many clubs. The heads of several departments of the Football Association also showed their magical powers when they crossed the sea.
The task force found that although the Football Association is only a social organization, it actually holds huge public resources and public power, but the power is out of supervision and restriction, resulting in the popularity of relying on football to eat football.
Chen Xiaoyuan: I have received money from the club myself, so I won’t catch this trend. Isn’t that arresting myself? So this phenomenon is basically laissez-faire.
Du Zhaocai, former deputy director of the State Sports General Administration and former party secretary of the China Football Association, is also a public instrument for private use. He eats sports by sports and football by football, receives tens of millions of yuan in property, and lets football chaos go unchecked.
In 2022, there were clues that some matches in League A were suspected of match-fixing gambling. After receiving the relevant clues, the State Sports General Administration asked Du Zhaocai to take the lead in the investigation and handling. However, Du Zhaocai stole the concept and perfunctory it with the so-called investigation. He didn’t find out any problems and didn’t deal with anyone. He just made a research report.
Du Zhaocai: I didn’t play a good role as a "goalkeeper" in the anti-corruption struggle of China football. In the hunt for the interests of club owners, some of them went with the flow.
Bribery of 3 million yuan "upper" national football coach
Collect money to let people into the national team
In 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the Overall Plan for Football Reform and Development in China. As the leaders of the Football Association, Du Zhaocai and Chen Xiaoyuan should have implemented the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and made promoting reform the top priority. However, they all feel that the reform is difficult and slow-moving. Instead of spending energy on this hard bone, it is better to gamble on the World Cup while earning some benefits for themselves.
At that time, Li Tie also wanted to gamble on the World Cup. He felt that the false record of match-fixing had accumulated capital for him to seek the position of head coach of the national team. In August, 2019, when he learned that China Football Association was going to set up a national men’s football selection team to participate in the East Asia Cup, Li Tie felt the opportunity came.
Li Tie: Because I want to be the head coach of the national team so badly, I thought of many ways, asked many people to ask for help, and asked the leaders of the Football Association to help me put in a good word and recommend me.
Li Tie’s idea of bribery is exactly the same as playing fake ball. On the one hand, he lobbied the Zall Club for money to help him with his work, saying that if he could be promoted, he would repay the club in many ways. For this reason, the club took out 2 million yuan to pay bribes to Chen Yuyuan. On the other hand, Li Tie felt that Liu Yi, then secretary-general of the Football Association, also had a voice, so he gave Liu Yi 1 million yuan out of his own pocket.
Liu Yi: Li Tie asked me to chat about the construction of the national team, and took the opportunity to give me money, hoping for more support. I said no problem, Tiezi. I’m sure I support you.
Subsequently, Li Tie became the head coach of the men’s football national selection team. After Lippi resigned, he was immediately appointed as the head coach of the men’s national team by FireWire. The day after he was confirmed to get this position, Li Tie flew to Wuhan to discuss the deal with Zall Club.
In the end, Li Tie signed the so-called contract with Zall Club for a total amount of 60 million yuan, which was actually to cover up the essence of power and money trading. Subsequently, four players of the Zall team were selected into the national team list.
Tian Xudong, former chairman of Wuhan Zall Club: When I saw the national team list, my face was red. What do you mean? I know the ability of our players. If we can’t get in, none of us can get in!
The selection of coaches and players is regarded as a weight for personal gain, and it is inevitable that they will not achieve results. When fans are still expecting Li Tie to lead the national men’s soccer team into the World Cup, many insiders have long known that such a miracle is impossible.
Li Tie was appointed as the head coach of the national football team on January 2, 2020, and was dismissed from the class on December 3, 2021. The result of quick success and instant benefit is that it rises quickly and falls quickly.
Now, both Hebei Huaxia Happiness and Wuhan Zall Club have been dissolved. Du Zhaocai and Chen Yuyuan failed to get the "political achievements" they wanted, but they both fell. Still an old saying goes: football is round, and no matter how much power and money there are, it can’t be shaped at will.
Li Tie: I regret it very much. I still have to be down-to-earth, take the right path, don’t be eager for quick success, and don’t try my best to take shortcuts.