A former president of China’s football association, Chen Xuyuan, has been sentenced to life in prison for accepting more than $10 million in bribes.

China’s state media reported, via ESPN</a>, on Tuesday, following one of the biggest anti-corruption probes in the sport in years.

The sentence handed down to Chen came in the wake of probes into more than a dozen high-level football officials since late 2022.

Chen had brought “tremendous damage” to Chinese football, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a court ruling.

The sport has long grappled with corruption, which fans have blamed for the enduring underperformance of the national team.

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In 2012, two former chiefs of the same football association were each sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in jail for taking bribes.

Chen, 67, had worked on the docks in Shanghai when he was a

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