[The Epoch Times, January 24, 2023](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Fang Xiao) The case of Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese National Men’s Football Team, continues to ferment. Recently, a mainland sports program host revealed that Li Tie is very tight-lipped, and the relevant personnel currently under investigation are almost not confessed by him. After the investigation of some players, coaches and officials, the most recent investigation is the referee.
On January 23, Li Pingkang, the host of “Sports Hit the Sky”, posted on Weibo, revealing the latest developments in Li Tie’s case.
“At the beginning, Li Tie said that the isolation of the players in the hotel was crazy, but now I believe it!” “After the players, coaches, and officials were all taken away, the referees also started to check!”
Weibo information shows that some of Li Pingkang’s Weibo posts have been deleted due to complaints of violating the relevant provisions of the “Weibo Community Convention.”
Li Pingkang did not disclose which referee was investigated. As for the referee who may be investigated, some netizens speculate that it is Ma Ning, one of the referees of the Chinese Super League.
According to public information, Ma Ning, born in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province in 1979, is a Chinese football referee and is now an international referee, who also enforces competitions such as the Chinese Super League.
On January 4, 2020, the AFC announced the list of referees for the 2020 U23 Asian Cup in Thailand, and Ma Ning was shortlisted as the referee. On May 19, 2022, FIFA officially announced the list of law enforcement referees for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Ma Ning was selected as the referee.
DK, a member of NetEase’s World Cup reporting team, reported on January 22 that before the World Cup in Qatar, Li Tie was taken away for investigation, and the case continued to ferment. In response to fans’ questions, Li Pingkang said that it can be clearly said that he (Li Tie) is still very tight-lipped, and almost none of the people arrested so far have been confessed by Li Tie.
However, on December 1 last year, the “Beijing Youth Daily” reported that several football media sources revealed that after Li Tie was investigated, he had confessed to three former Chinese men’s football “national players”.
The former “National Gate” Zhang Lu has been taken away. Li Tie confessed that Zhang Lu participated in match-fixing in the 2019 Chinese Super League relegation match against Tianhai in Wuhan; Jian team and Zhang Lu were teammates before moving to Shenzhen; the other was a national full-back.
On November 30 last year, Li Xuan, a well-known football reporter, revealed the details of Zhang Lu being taken away on Weibo. He was wearing handcuffs and other equipment.
Subsequently, football personnel were continuously investigated. So far, 27 people have been investigated in connection with Li Tie’s case.
Li Tie was reported by the Wuhan club executives because of a salary dispute with the Wuhan Zall club.
On November 12, 2022, during the professional coach training course organized by the AFC, Li Tie was taken away in front of Fan Zhiyi, Yang Chen, Li Yi and others during the senior coach training course.
According to news from the website of the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection on November 26, 2022, Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese National Men’s Football Team, is suspected of serious violations of the law and is currently under investigation.
Veteran sports reporter He Xiaolong posted on the WeChat official account on November 27, 2022 that during Li Tie’s time in Wuhan Zall, in addition to monopolizing power, his agency also signed many Wuhan players. When coaching the national football team, there was a power-for-money transaction, and Li Tie’s agency signed many Chinese Super League players.
The CCP’s official media once reported that Li Tie had a deposit of 100 million yuan in a bank in Shenyang. Li Tie bought a luxury house in an affluent area of the United States. His wife and daughter stayed in the United States and arranged for their children to immigrate to study.
There are endless incidents of match-fixing, black calls and corruption in Chinese football. The Chinese men’s football team is notorious for this. The Chinese Communist Party launched an “anti-gambling and anti-crime” campaign in football after 2009, but the horrific shady scenes in the Chinese football world have not yet been fully revealed.
In February 2019, an article went viral on the Internet, in which a former Chinese Super League player exposed the shocking shady scenes in Chinese football. The article mentioned that many people know that China’s players, coaches, officials, and system are not good enough, but as fans, they don’t know why. This article discloses a lot of inside information about Chinese football from the perspective of a football practitioner.
Responsible editor: Lin Congwen