Former Chinese Super League president sentenced to 10 years in jail

A court has sentenced former Chinese Super League (CSL) president Ma Chenquan to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes and taking advantage of his position to make a profit, in a week in which other Chinese football officials have been sentenced for corruption.

A court in central Hubei province ruled that Ma must also pay a fine of 800,000 yuan (112,000 dollars, 100,000 euros), reports the local Global Times.

The province's anti-corruption authorities announced about a year ago that they had begun an investigation into the actions of Ma, who was suspected of committing ‘serious violations of discipline and law’.

On Tuesday, another court sentenced the former president and general secretary of the Chengdu Central City Football Association, Gu Jimiang, to six years and a fine of 400,000 yuan (50,530 euros) for embezzlement and receiving and offering bribes.

On the same day, former Chinese Football Association (CFA) competition director Huang Song was sentenced to seven years in prison for receiving bribes.

On Monday, former CFA vice-president Li Yuyi was sentenced to eleven years in prison for accepting a total of approximately one million yuan (126,700 euros) in bribes.

In recent years, numerous Chinese football officials have been investigated for corruption, including former Chinese Super League president Liu Jun and even former national football coach Li Tie, one of China's football legends.

Last March, Chen Xuyuan, the former CFA president from 2019 to 2023, was sentenced to life in prison for accepting more than 81 million yuan (10.3 million euros) in bribes over a 13-year career.

Last October, the CFA promised ‘more openness and transparency’ in the face of numerous corruption cases within its ranks.

After coming to power in 2012, the current general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and president of the country, Xi Jinping, began an anti-corruption campaign in which numerous high-ranking Chinese officials have been convicted of accepting bribes worth millions of dollars.