In the long history of Chinese football, some events seem to be a repetition of a tragedy. In 2024, a shocking news in football proves this once again. The latest episode of CCTV's feature film "Continue to Make Efforts to Advance in Depth" revealed a shocking corruption case, and the protagonist is former national football coach Li Tie.
It all started in 2019, when Li Tie, a former international, served as the coach of Hebei Huaxia Happiness and Wuhan Zall. His ambitions are not limited to the club level, he aspires to a higher glory - to become the manager of the national football team.
In order to achieve this goal, Li Tie did everything it takes, including bribing the leadership and secretary general of the Football Association. According to reports, he paid 2 million yuan to Chen Xuyuan through Wuhan Zall Club, and at the same time personally paid 1 million yuan to Liu Yi, then secretary general of the Football Association.
Li Tie's ambitions don't stop there. The day after becoming the coach of the national football team, he flew back to Wuhan to "negotiate a deal" with Zall Club. The deal is about promoting Zall players to international players and providing resources for Drow in exchange for a huge amount of money.
In the end, Li Tie got a big contract of 60 million yuan from Zall, which is actually a typical power-for-money transaction. In this transaction, four players of Wuhan Zall - Tomorrow, Li Xing, Liu Yun and Dong Chunyu were promoted to international players.
The exposure of this incident has aroused widespread attention and strong repercussions. The public is outraged and frustrated by the way international players are selected under this power-for-money trade. This not only undermines the fairness of football, but also seriously damages the image and competitive level of the national team. Football, as the love of hundreds of millions of people, its purity and fairness should not be tarnished by power and money.
This turmoil is not only an accusation against Li Tie personally, but also a profound reflection on the entire Chinese football system. In the days to come, Chinese football needs not only to clean up the portal, but also to fundamentally reform and rebuild. Only by establishing a fair, just and transparent football environment can we truly put Chinese football on the road to rejuvenation.
In this football turmoil, we have seen the dark side of Chinese football, and also seen the necessity and urgency of reform. May Chinese football get rid of the shadow of corruption as soon as possible and usher in a real spring.