The Hober Provincial High Court confirmed in a statement that it dismissed Lee’s appeal, upholding the original ruling made by the lower court in December.
Li, 47, was convicted of multiple counts of donating and accepting bribes, one of the most highly-reviewed convictions in the sweeping anti-corruption campaign within China’s sports department. Once celebrated as a national football idol, Lee won nearly 100 blocks for China and joined the British team Everton in 2002 to make international headlines.
From January 2020 to December 2021, Li retired from professional football and led the Chinese national team. His belief is part of a broader crackdown on Chinese football corruption by the whole government, which began in 2022 and has since resulted in a series of arrests and prosecutions involving players, coaches, coaches and sports administrators.
The anti-grafting movement led by President Xi Jinping has been intensifying in recent years, with the focus on cleaning up the country’s sports industry. Lee fell from grace to emphasize the depth of corruption concerns, and the government is determined to punish high-profile criminals, regardless of their status.
