BEST COLOUR PIECE / Sentenced to 20 years - Lanxiong

Former head coach of the Chinese men’s national football team Li Tie has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery, accepting bribes, and match-fixing, becoming the first national team head coach in Chinese football history to receive a criminal conviction. Throughout his career—both as a player and as a coach—Li Tie projected an image of positivity and professionalism. Yet behind this upbeat and respectable façade lay a web of hidden dealings unknown to the public. It was not until his sentencing that the truth began to surface. Through in-depth interviews with over a hundred people who knew Li Tie, this story gradually reconstructs the human side and the most authentic portrait of the former head coach of China’s national football team.