A court in China has sentenced the former head coach of the Chinese national men’s football team, Li Tie, to 20 years imprisonment after being convicted of taking bribes to the tune of $16 million, according to the country’s state media.

In March this year, the ex-Everton player, who served as the head coach of the national team from January 2020 to December 2021, pleaded guilty to taking bribes, which started in 2015 when he was an assistant coach at the Hebei China Fortune Club.

The court found that Mr Li had accumulated millions of dollars from proceeds of bribery from 2015 until he quit as the national team coach in 2021.

Mr Li is said to have collected bribes in exchange for certain individuals to be selected for the national team and also help clubs win competitions.

“I’m very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path,” the 47-year-old, who played 92 times for the national team, apologised in an anti-corruption documentary aired on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV early this year. “There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”

As part of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption in sports, banking and military in the Asian country, three former officials from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) were also handed jail sentences for bribery earlier this week.

Dozens of other coaches and players are currently under investigation.

Mr Li’s former boss, Chen Xuyuan, a former CFA president, is among individuals caught up in corruption scandals. Mr Chen was earlier this month sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes worth $11 million.