KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING: The Chinese football association has sentenced 73 people, including ex-CFA president Chen Xuyuan and Li Tie, former national team player and then coach, involved in the so-called “fake gambling” scandal.

Chen Xuyuan and Li Tie have been banned from football for life while 13 clubs including Tianjin Jinmen Tigers will be fined points and fines in the 2026 season.

The scandal concerned a systemic network of bribery and result manipulation that acted as a linchpin for organised crime.

A two-year investigation by the Ministry of Public Security and CFA found that at least 120 domestic matches had been fixed, involving 41 clubs across various tiers of the Chinese league system. Some 128 individuals were arrested or investigated for gambling, match-fixing, and bribery.

In September 2024, the CFA issued lifetime bans on 43 individuals including . Notable names included Son Jun-ho, a South Korean World Cup player who had played for Shandong Taishan as well as Jingdao and Guo Tianyu, former China internationals who were central to the national team’s recent campaigns.

The most high-profile “falls from grace” occurred at the executive level.

Li Tie, the one-time Everton midfielder, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in December 2024 for bribery and match-fixing while Chen Xuyuan received a life sentence for accepting more than $11m in bribes.

The term “fake gambling” referred to the fact that many of these matches were not only being bet on but the outcomes had been pre-determined by criminal syndicates via illegal online platforms, criminal gangs (some operating from Southeast Asia) running “white label” gambling sites; players and referees were paid to ensure specific scores or events (such as a certain number of corners) to guarantee the “house” always won.

These games served as a front for moving large sums of illicit cash through complex cyber-crime supply chains.

This scandal was largely blamed by fans for China’s performance on the world stage, including their humiliating 7-0 loss to Japan in 2024.

The CFA’s discipline and ethics committee set out the punishments as follows:

The clubs:

Tianjin Jinmen Tigers Football Club, deducted 10 points and fined 1 million yuan;

Shanghai Shenhua Football Club, deducted 10 points and fined 1 million yuan;

Qingdao Manatee Football Club, deducted 7 points and fined 800,000 yuan;

Wuhan Three Towns Football Club, deducted 5 points and fined 800,000 yuan;

Shandong Taishan Football Club, deducted 6 points and fined 800,000 yuan;

Henan Football Club, deducted 6 points and fined 600,000 yuan;

Zhejiang Professional Football Club, deducted 5 points and fined 600,000 yuan;

Shanghai Port Football Club, deducted 5 points and fined 400,000 yuan;

Beijing Guoan Football Club, deducted 5 points and fined 400,000 yuan;

Meizhou Hakka Football Club, deducted 3 points and fined 200,000 yuan;

Changchun Yatai Football Club, deducted 4 points and fined 200,000 yuan;

Suzhou Soochow Football Club, deducted 3 points and fined 200,000 yuan;

Ningbo Professional Football Club was deducted 3 points and fined 200,000 yuan.

The individuals:

73 people including Chen Xuyuan and Li Tie, who were found to have committed crimes by the people’s court, were given a lifetime ban from engaging in any football-related activities.

Three people, including Erpati Mijiti, who have not been held criminally responsible but have seriously violated industry discipline after the people’s procuratorate decided not to prosecute, will be banned from engaging in any football-related activities for five years (the enforcement period is from January 29, 2026 to January 28, 2031).

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