When writing about Chinese football, the general rule is that the opening paragraph must make reference to a growing economy and/or population. There is an exception that is allowed around this time of year however and that is when the writer links the characteristics of the creature representing the upcoming Chinese New Year with the game we all know and love. So here goes: 2012 is the Year of the Dragon and it is all about money - making and spending it.
Nicolas Anelka, heading east as soccer booms. (Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)
These days nowhere makes it quite like China and nowhere is spending it like Chinese football. The 2011 season ended in November with moneybags Guangzhou Evergrande lifting a first title by some margin and promising to spend more to consolidate in China and conquer Asia. 2011 itself ended with Shanghai Shenhua making Nicolas Anelka one of the highest paid players in the world and offering to pay the Frenchman’s former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba even more.
Northern giants such as Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian are not about to let those shallow, money-obsessed southern upstarts such as Guangzhou and Shanghai make all the running. Anything could happen in the transfer market in the weeks leading up to the kick-off in March and it is hard to find anyone in China who is not happy to bask in the international spotlight that is currently shining on the league.
Past lights were usually of the sudden torchlight in the face variety as police investigated dark corners to find dirty secrets. Chronic corruption from referees, officials, coaches and players caused sponsors to drift away. Media and fans followed suit and those that didn’t became perhaps the most cynical in the world.
As often happens in China, change came from the top. Authorities were tired of constant international failure - the 2002 World Cup remains a sole appearance, a series of qualification failures and a disastrous performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – and the shady goings on at home and finally stepped in. There had been arrests in the past but this time it was serious. High-ranking officials including the Chinese FA president Nan Yong were imprisoned and are awaiting trial. Replacing Nan at the top in 2010 was Wei Di, a man from outside the game whose mission it was to clean it up.
A genuine and committed fight against corruption was a pre-requisite to allow the right kind of money to enter the game. Last season, Toshiba signed a three-year deal to sponsor the FA Cup. Domestic companies have gone further. The majority of Chinese top flight clubs are now backed by real estate companies which have made fortunes in the country’s property boom. There may be growing concerns in the business world that the property bubble in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is about the burst but football is too busy enjoying itself to care.
That is especially true in Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton. In 2009, the club was found guilty of match-fixing and relegated to the league’s second tier. It was the best thing that ever happened as Evergrande Real Estate stepped in. Guangzhou starting spending ahead of the 2010 season, tempting established Chinese stars such as Zheng Zhi, Sun Xiang and Gao Lin to the second division. Midway through the season, the team, already well on its way to promotion, paid almost $4 million for Brazil’s Muriqui.
As the team returned to the top tier, in came Cleo, a Brazilian striker who scored against Arsenal for Partizan Belgrade in the Champions League in September 2010. Guangzhou found the first division as easy as the second and it became even more of a stroll to the title in the summer as, Dario Conca was added in the summer from Brazilian club Fluminense for over $10 million.
The capture of the Argentine caused those outside the Middle Kingdom to take notice for the first time and the signing of Anelka really turned heads. For a number of years, Chinese clubs have been outspending those in Korea and Japan. Now though, they are outspending even those in the oil-rich west of the continent and compared to UAE and Qatar, China has an established football infrastructure with a massive population that likes the game. 45,000 regularly watched Guangzhou take the title and in 2012 the Chinese Super League will become undisputedly Asia’s most-watched league (it was in 2011 but an average of 17,400 was only number one as Japan’s figures suffered in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami) and Guangzhou could become the first Chinese team to win the Asian Champions League.
China could at last become a force in Asia.
The usual contention that in a country of almost 1.4 billion people, it can only be a matter of time before 11 are found who can play, has always been a little wide of the mark. It is not the number of people in the country that is important – it is the number playing football and in recent years, Chinese kids simply stopped doing so for reasons that would need another article. The statistics are shocking. There are less than 10,000 registered under-12 players in China compared to 360,000 of the same age group in a Japan with less than a tenth of the population.
Population does make a difference in the sense that sooner or later, China was always likely to become seriously rich and sooner or later, some of that money was always likely to be spent on soccer. All it needs now is for some of that to go to the right areas. Millions being paid to the likes of Nicolas Anelka and not, say, some youth team in a poorer area of Shanghai has been remarked upon and it is true that China needs to find a balance. In the past, the country has hardly been a pauper but fell into the trap of throwing money at the top of the pyramid – state-of-the-art facilities and stadiums for the professionals and highly-paid foreign coaches for the national teams – while ignoring the grass-roots.
It could be starting to change. Former national team captain Li Weifeng wants to get the kids playing football and is opening a series of schools. Legendary striker Hao Haidong has urged the FA to follow Japan’s youth development system, sports companies such as Adidas have been desperate for some consistent and long-term youth programs for years and is ready to invest at the grass-roots and most encouragingly of all, league sponsors Dalian Wanda have stumped up $77 million to be invested in youth football and coaching. The government too has promised to encourage more children to take up the sport.
And that is where the long-term benefit of attracting the likes of Anelka, Conca and anybody else to comes to China, may really lie – in helping to make the local game exciting and glamorous. The Year of the Dragon may be upon us but what the country really needs is years of sustained investment and patience at the grassroots level. It doesn’t sound as sexy but it could be about to happen.
