Former Everton star who played with Wayne Rooney sentenced to 20 years in prison

A former Everton player who played with Wayne Rooney has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Li Tie, who played 40 times for the Toffees and later turned out for Sheffield United, has received the sentence from a court in China.

The former China national manager has been found guilty of giving and receiving bribes of £11.9 million between 2015 and 2021, as reported by state media CCTV on Friday.

He had been placed on investigation in 2022 for "serious violations of the law", as per The Independent.

It comes after the Chinese government intensified efforts stop corruption in Chinese football, with over a dozen officials of the Chinese Football Association investigated or charged.

In March, former China FA chief Chen Xuyuan was sentenced to life in prison for taking bribes of over 81m yuan (£8.7 million).

Li is one of the most famous footballers to hail from China and represented his country on 92 occasions, including their only appearance at the 2002 World Cup.

He then went on to manage the China national team but it's alleged he picked specific players for the national team in exchange for bribes which amassed over 50m yuan (£5.4 million) during his spell in charge.

The 47-year-old admitted to arranging more than £300,000 in bribes to obtain the position and Li was also accused of match-fixing when he was a club manager in China, coaching Hebei China Fortune and Wuhan Zall.

Li Tie battles with David Beckham while playing for Everton. Image: Getty

He pleaded guilty to his involvement in bribery and match-fixing.

Speaking in a documentary aired by CCTV at the start of the year, Li said: “I'm very sorry. I should have kept my head to the ground and followed the right path. There were certain things that at the time were common practices in football.”

A two-year investigation into match-fixing and gambling found that 41 clubs were involved in the fixing of 120 games, with 38 players and five club officials hit with lifetime bans.

Li, along with Sun Jihai of Manchester City, achieved huge status in China after becoming the first players from the country to play in the Premier League back in 2002.