Football body revokes suspended coach's license over bullying case

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) The Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) on Wednesday said it has revoked the coaching license of Chou Tai-ying (周台英), a suspended women's soccer coach at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) over her involvement in a bullying case.

The decision was made that day by a disciplinary committee, which found that Chou had bullied student athletes by coercing them into providing blood samples for research projects, threatening them with the loss of course credits required for graduation and isolating individual athletes, the association said in a news statement.

The committee also found that Chou had abused the unequal power dynamic between a coach and her athletes to force them to participate in the research projects, causing significant physical and psychological harm. As a result, the CTFA barred her from participating in football-related affairs for life.

The association said the committee based its decisions on evidence and investigation reports attached to a notice sent by the Ministry of Education's Sports Administration on July 17.

Chou, aged 61 and long-term coach of NTNU's women's soccer team, was accused of forcing student athletes to participate in research projects that required them to provide blood samples from 2019-2024.

A press conference was held on July 19, where NTNU President Wu Cheng-chih (吳正己), research project leader Chen Chung-ching (陳忠慶) and Chou apologized to the students and the public over the case.

Chou is a former national team player who led Taiwan to three consecutive Asian Cup titles in 1977, 1979 and 1981. She had been teaching at NTNU since 2004.