The former head of Shanghai International Port Group. (SIPG), and China’s ex-footballing supremo, was handed a life sentence today for taking bribes worth $11m in a huge graft scandal that has rocked the country’s footballing establishment.
Chen Xuyuan sought “improper benefits for multiple football clubs and local football associations, seriously damaging fair competition and order in the football sector”, the People’s Daily reported.
Between 2010 to 2019, when Chen was the president and chairman at SIPG – the company that owns Shanghai SIPG and won the Chinese Super League in 2018 – he accepted bribes “in particularly large amounts”, either directly or through his wife and son.
Then for the two years when he was chairman of the CFA, from 2019 to 2021, he accepted RMB16m from other football clubs, including Hebei FC, who were dissolved in 2023.
Chen’s immediate successor at SIPG, Yan Jun, is also being investigated for corruption.
