http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...news/manchester-city-set-strike-rich-10863147
“What doesn't seem to have been picked up on quite as much as it might have been is that CMC have huge exposure in China in terms of TV rights. And that's one market no Premier League club has really got hold of."
On top of the MEN article above, I submitted a piece to a national newspaper in China and a magazine in Hong Kong, awaiting translation and publication. A rival, and Man U fan, who writes in fluent Cantonese and Mandarin has jumped ahead of me in the queue, so my work is up there with Thatcher's love for miners.
Working title: A view of football from Dongguan, China
In 2015, the romantic (if debatable) home of football, inducted Sūn Jìhǎi (孙继海) into the English Football Hall of Fame. The prominence of Chinese eyes on overseas football has steadily been on the rise. Domestically new moves are in the waters. China is flexing its muscle with ambitious electrical currents rippling across the globe. China may well have invented the game in Cuju (蹴鞠)as early as the 3rd–2nd century BC, but now it is staking a claim on the modern game.
Did a player that had won the Football League First Division in 2002 merit the highest possible English recognition over a decade later? As always with football, there is not just a hint of financial unfairness or political push, there is a will of ambition that use every inch of mountain climbing skills to grasp the future. 38-year-old Sūn Jìhǎi (孙继海) will play for Běijīng Rénhé F.C. ( 北京人和足球俱乐部) in the second flight of Chinese football. The capital club have been nomadic, owned by 8 different parent companies since 1995. Their current name is their 7th official incarnation (and they’ve held 11 sponsored names too). This is an important but brief introduction to a common theme amongst the 16 top tier clubs of China.
In China there are three professional leagues, the Chinese Super League, China League One, and China League Two. The lower of the three leagues has regional stages. Below that lies amateur football. A country of 1.4 billion people and only 48 teams ranked as professional is clear indication that football has not been big here for a while. Guǎngzhōu Héngdà Táobǎo F.C. (广州恒大淘宝), the Southern China Tigers (华南虎) have dominated football domestically for five titles straight until 2015. Owned by superrich Evergrande Real Estate and e-commerce giants Alibaba, they have qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup, finishing 4th each time in 2013 and 2015. Two continental titles in the same years’ AFC Champions League have helped their push.
Along the road in recent years there have been match fixing scandals, gambling problems, but the leagues here are moving away from bad news. They have a refreshed attitude and an outlook of positivity. Money and sponsors are entering the game with weight. The league needs high-profile publicity. Attracting managers such as Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari (spotted in Dongguan every now and then at charity bashes) have helped them handle stars like Brazilian Elkeson (sold to Sven-Göran Eriksson’s Shànghǎi Shànggǎng/上海上港SIPG side), Paulinho and Robinho (released recently). €42 million signing Jackson Martinez of Colombia will feature for them this coming season. The side paid 2.5 million US dollars for South Korean Kim Yŏnggwŏn (김영권). A year ago €15 million paid for Brazilian Ricardo Goulart was a record transfer fee in Asia. In January 2016, this record was smashed three times in less than a fortnight! Many clubs including the Chinese Super League’s initial winners Shēnzhèn F.C. (深圳市足球俱乐部) have fell foul to financial problems. Clubs have often found that you can’t just sign Anelka, Drogba, or Kanouté and command instant achievement.
The fans here are presented with a problem. Kit home colours are tinkered with too often. Clubs change names and locations all too often. A move the league’s top dogs are looking to rectify. Aside from cross-city derby games, travel to watch your team away is expensive and involves hours, if not days of travel. China is vast. Domestically CCTV, GDTV-Sports, STV-Sports, LeTV and BTV all show live national, international, BBVA, Premier League and Bundesliga games. It isn’t unusual to flick through the channels and see one of Dongguan’s many 5-a-side leagues on primetime coverage. Whilst basketball dominates TV coverage, football is always around in some shape or form. Most Chinese Super League games are televised. So, at least you can follow away games…
Nike have a massive presence with team jerseys in China. They back the national team, having succeeded Adidas last year. The German company having sported the national team’s kits for 20 years! Ping An Insurance more than doubled the previous sponsorship deal from Wanda. League and club sponsorship deals have been growing steadily for a decade. They can smell high-profile growth.
The Tianhe Sports Centre Stadium (天河体育中心体育场) in Guangzhou smacks of China’s often concrete architecture. It is bland. A running-track around this arena completes the lack of excitement feel. Not surprisingly the football club loans the ground from the Guangzhou People's Government. Hardly a surprising format considering most top flight clubs have the same kind of deal. The 22,000 seater Dongguan Stadium (东莞体育场) has lay dormant mostly, housing a Police and Army facility. Following the purchase of Gansu Tianma (甘肃天马- Paul Gascoigne played & coached there before fleeing in the face of legal action), the parent group/owner Lanwa moved the team and name closer to home. Dongguan Lanwa FC (聯華紅牛) nicknamed the “Red Bull” made the move to Hong Kong’s well-organised league system but sadly dissolved in 2009, after around a decade of existence. Dongguan, like many Chinese cities, has a football void that needs filling.
Locally, and nationally there are many leagues at 5, 7 and 8-a-side level. 11-a-side football is uncommon here in Dongguan yet more and more pitches are appearing in odd places like factories or new housing estates like in Tangxia and Houjie. Soccerworld in Nancheng faces rival pitches in most areas of Dongguan, older ones in Binjiang, rougher ones like BallAve in (on a roof) Rongda Industrial Park and Best Pitch (on a roof in Dongcheng). The same can be seen in cities across China. More premier quality pitches can be found like Bosom in TouXu, XiHu (West Lake), Houjie’s Olympic Sports Park and Hengli’s Gusitu Field. All appear to provide tournaments at varying standards, for locals and foreigners alike.
Marketing and social media of football in China can be found via various platforms such as Weibo, WeChat (Wēixìn; 微信), QQ International, and many more tailored platforms for inside the cyber Great Wall. Tours of China by the likes of Arsenal, Brazil, or Maradona’s Argentina in 2010 aren’t uncommon. I recently joined Shenzhen Blues (MCFC Official Supporters Club) for an International tournament with players coming from all corners of the globe. That was the fourth such tournament I’ve joined a team with in the last year. Murray’s FC based in Dongcheng allows ample opportunities to meet new players and teams locally and in neighbouring cities.
Clubs such as Manchester City, Chelsea and Bayern Munich have deals with domestic clubs here. There are due diligence checks, risk assessments and then there has been bilateral agreements or funding. Manchester City have a major summer your and an announcement in China pencilled into their calendar. It seems to help if the clubs home colours are red, in a nation coloured by red and the notion of luck tied to this colour. In this year of the Monkey, the lucky colours are gold and blue (immortality?). Is that an omen for something big on the horizon? Maybe red will make way for blue.
In 2009, Ferran Soriano made a speech, “Well then, if you imagine this child in China, none of the considerations we have made so far are valid. Because this Chinese child has no history of football. Most probably he is the first member of his family to be interested in the game. His father and grandfather have never bothered with it and he does not know anything about it either... but the choice of this little Chinese kid is very important for the football industry. Clubs that aspire to become global face the challenge of recruiting this Chinese boy or girl as a fan, by explaining the differences between different football clubs and giving reasons for the child to choose theirs.” Football will grow, for sure, in China with forward thinkers. Some will criticise outsiders as just wanted to cash in on football here. There is a mutual benefit to this, expertise and players can pass both ways. A pool of marketing and strategy can form. Money flow between China and other countries can and will be strictly monitored. It has win-win potential.
On the global stage China’s women’s team have had success. The Kēngqiāng Méiguī (铿锵玫瑰/ “Steel Roses”) won silver, losing to hosts U.S.A. in Atlanta 1996. In the group stage they had finished ahead of the hosts, matching them in the group game. They’ve ranked as high as 4th with FIFA, but slipped as low as 19th in recent years. Six FIFA Women’s World Cup entries has seen just one runners-up trophy in U.S.A’s 1999 finals, again to the U.S. team. Players such as record scorer and all-time great of the women’s game (globally) Sūn Wén (孙雯) and veteran appearance holder Pǔ Wěi (浦玮) have left the game. There is a feeling that the next generation of Chinese women footballers may have the ability to break through. China’s resurgence at the recent Canada finals in 2015 led to a narrow defeat elimination by, you guessed it, the U.S.A. (the eventual winners). 20-year-old Tāng Jiālì (唐佳丽), of Shanghai Ladies, was shortlisted for a young players’ award. Neighbouring city to Dongguan, Guangzhou hosted the inaugural Women’s World Championship in 1991, China held the rebranded FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2007 and has aspirations to host the 9th World Cup in 2023. With entries to the Algarve Cup (’99 and ’02 Champions), Asia Games (’90, ’94, ’98 winners), and other tournaments entered China has always placed a priority on the World Cup. Having won 8 out of 13 (coming twice, twice) of the AFC Women's Asian Cup that they’ve entered, Women’s football in China needs the top tournaments.
In the women’s game, all players appear to be domestic. The only exception being Wáng Fēi (王飞) who plies her trade as goalkeeper at Olympique Lyonnais. High profile games at Manchester’s City Football Academy against England last year, a win over England at the 2015 Yongchuan International Tournament and continued progress has pushed China women’s team to travel to Osaka for Olympic qualification in high hopes. A technical team, complete with Frenchman Bruno Bini is tasked with ensuring they arrive at Rio in 2016. Maybe Dongguan would make a good home for a women’s team? It’d help to shed any negative image of the city.
In contrast to the Women’s game, China’s male counterparts appeared at the 2002 World Cup. They didn’t score a single goal and flew back soon after arriving. All positive expectation had been left in tatters. It isn’t a surprise that Dong Fangzhuo, Li Tie, Lǐ Wěifēng (李玮峰is the most capped Chinese player ever) and Zheng Zhi complete the five players to have plated in the English Premier League. Good luck finding Chinese player sin any top flight European league for that matter (Zhang Chengdong is at Rayo Vallecano). Are there any south American-based Chinese players? The men’s game has featured at the 1936, 1948 and 1988 Olympics. 11 entries in the Asian Cup have resulted in two runners-up titles. Absence of glory is a clear problem. With respect to qualifying for Russia 2018, well China need to beat Qatar and Maldives and move above Hong Kong to even reach the World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round. There is even a possibility of a fourth round play-off.
The F.A. of the P.R.C. (Zhōngguó Zúqiú Xiéhuì/中国足球协会), or Chinese FA. despite being housed at the Chinese State General Administration of Sports is ran as a non-governmental and a non-profit organization in line with FIFA’s rules. It has ambition, as does the state. China wants a World Cup hosting to boost the profile of Team Dragon (龙之队/Lóngzhī Duì). With the FIFA scandals halting the bidding process for now, China can’t go public on its first ever bid for the men’s top competition. When it does, it could easily include many cities in and around South China.
There are 44 regional associations linked into the national C.F.A. Dongguan’s teams are affiliated to the Guangdong Football Association. The Chinese Super League now has reserve, under-19s, under-17s and under-15s categories.
Here in Dongguan, I believe the dreams can be started at grassroots. Football academies (e.g. GZYLA Football Academy) and coaching schools are springing up nationally. Regionally, Dongguan has had them for many years. The influence of the Pearl River delta foreigners is likely the cause and that of neighbouring Hong Kong’s love of the beautiful game. Can the kids in this area show hunger, gritted teeth and desire on a par with the ghetto kids of Rio’s slums or the rough Liverpool council estates? If the city of Dongguan put the game out to the underprivileged and gave the opportunity to play, the pool of players increases. Hunger increases. Competition increases. Talent increases. All it takes is investment in coaches and a work over of current footballing facilities. Many cities are already mass-recruiting coaches from places as established as New Jersey (U.S.A.), Manchester, Belgium and beyond.
In this Year of the Monkey, clubs in China are recognising that money is not the only way to get players. Many clubs have opened up to new directions and avenues for improvement. Beijing Guoan have a Strategic Development Committee in place. 13 foreign managers, numerous coaches from overseas and ambitious signings may have filled the news. With the right balance and regulation, Chinese football can go forward. It begins now. This season is set to be a big one and I for one will travel from Dongguan to see as many games as possible.
See also:
Beijing Renhe F.C.
http://www.renhefc.hupu.com/
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC
http://www.gzevergrandefc.com/
Shanghai SIPG
http://www.sipg-fc.com/
Chinese Super League:
http://csl.sina.com.cn/
Chinese F.A.
http://www.fa.org.cn/ #
Hong Kong F.A.
http://www.hkfa.com/en/
