Citing Nan's good behavior, including inventing and writing, Yancheng Prison recommended to Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court on Nov 13 that his sentence be reduced.

The court approved the request this month, after receiving no complaints during a public review in November, and announced his sentence will be reduced by one year. Nan will be released in July 2019.

The former vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association was imprisoned in 2012 for accepting bribes worth more than 1.19 million yuan ($191,900) for fixing matches and illegally using his power in exchange for economic benefits. He was also fined 200,000 yuan.

Nan's turnaround from a corrupt official to a reborn inventor sparked heated debate on Chinese social media on Tuesday.

"After all, he's shown that he loves soccer anyway. He was just blinded by the desire for money," a netizen going by the name Robinlovesellen wrote on Tuesday.

Another netizen, Shixiaofeng, wrote: "I strongly recommend that all the soccer governing body officials in China should work in jail so that they will be forced to make a real contribution to the game."

During the Ministry of Public Security's 2010-2012 campaign against soccer corruption and match-fixing, 59 officials, players, referees and club owners, including Nan and his predecessor, Xie Yalong, were put behind bars.