After admitting to paying more than £300,000 in bribes to obtain a position on the national team, Everton player was “sentenced to LIFE in prison”

After admitting to paying more than £300,000 in bribes to obtain a position on the national team, a former Everton player was “sentenced to LIFE in prison” for corruption and match-fixing.

According to reports, former Everton player Li Tie was found guilty of corruption and given a life sentence in his home country of China.

During the 2002–03 season, Li played 33 games for Everton while on loan from Chinese club Liaoning. After obtaining a permanent contract, he played seven games the following season.

The defensive midfielder broke his leg while serving for his country in February 2004 and had injury issues after making a brief appearance for Sheffield United.

Li, 46, finished his career in China and served as manager of their national team between 2019 and 2021.

A year after Li left that post, the Chinese public prosecutor released a bombshell statement saying he was ‘suspected of accepting and offering bribes’ amid a huge crackdown on corruption in football.

Li admitted he paid 3 million yuan (£330,000) in bribes to become coach of the national team in a televised confession on state broadcaster CCTV.

He also confessed to taking part in a match-fixing scandal to win promotions with his club teams.

Li said: ‘I’m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path. There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.’

China-based reporter and author Li has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the scandal.

The former head of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Xuyuan, has been given a 15-year sentence for bribery, Dreyer said.

Li admitted to successfully fixing matches when coach of Hebei China Fortune and Wuhan Zall. The latter won promotion from China League One as champions in 2018.

He added in his televised statement: ‘By gaining ‘success’ through such improper means, it actually made me more and more impatient and eager for quick results.

‘In order to achieve good performance, I resorted to influencing referees, bribing opposing players and coaches, sometimes through clubs dealing with other clubs.

‘This behaviour becomes a habit, and eventually, there is even a slight dependence on these practices.’

Li was regarded as one of the most talented Chinese players of his generation when he signed for Everton in August 2002.

The loan deal for him – and compatriot Li Weifeng – was brokered by the now-defunct Chinese telecommunications company Keijan, who sponsored Everton at the time.

Li was a surprise hit at Goodison Park with manager David Moyes playing him regularly in the Premier League as Everton achieved a seventh-place finish.

That persuaded Everton to sign him permanently for £1.2million in August 2003, with two-thirds of the deal paid for by sponsorships.

Having been sent off against Arsenal on the opening day of the season, Li broke his leg while playing for China in February 2004 and never managed to break back into the first team.

He was released by Everton in 2006 and joined Sheffield United, but he played only once for the Blades because of lingering injury issues.

Li, who played 92 times for China between 1995 and 2007, moved to Chengdu Blades, who were affiliated to Sheffield United in 2008 and later returned to hometown club Liaoning.

After coaching at club level, he acted as caretaker coach of the China national team after Marcello Lippi resigned in 2019 and was then appointed permanently.

In November 2022, it was initially announced Li had been placed under investigation for ‘serious violation of laws’ by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the anti-corruption agency the National Supervisory Commission.