The Chinese Super League burst onto the scene only two years ago when Chinese billionaires began to invest in their national professional football division. Because China was a socialist country, it rejected professional sports in the past. However, China looks like it may become football powerhouse within five years due to the massive investment into the league from Chinese sponsors.
These sponsors also started spending on the youth system in the country, creating football clubs in many public schools. After 5 years, these players will be at least as good as the players in South Korea and Japan. 2016 Chinese Football Super League has been striving to achieve its ambitious goal to become the best league in Asia through the introduction of their money in the global football market.
10 out of 16 teams in the league have foreign team managers. The players are not much different. Out of 500 players in the league, 100 players are foreigners, which include names such as Hulk, Paulinho, Tim Cahill and Graziano Pelle. Also, surprising or not, there are even players from the Philipines.
Of course, the teams with more foreign players and veteran foreigner managers are on the top of the league. With having 30 games completed this season, in 1st place is Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao F.C, a team that has over 10 foreign coaching staff, including Luis Felipe Scolari, a coach who led Brazil to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They are widely considered as one of the best teams in Asian football. In 2nd place is Jiangsu Suning F.C, coached by Choi Yong-Soo, one of legends of South Korean Football.
In 3rd is Shanghai East Asia, which 4 of the 5 coaching staff are foriengers, including Portuguese manager André Villas-Boas, who has experience coaching Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Porto Football club. Even the national team is coached by a foreigner manager, Marcello Lippi, who led Italy to win the FIFA World Cup in 2006. This may only be the start, but this trend seems to clearly continue for the next several years in the Super League.
Also, the league’s ability to mobilize the crowd on game days is the best in Asia. It is not an exaggeration to say that most teams have the ability to fill half of the stadium on game days, despite only having games played on weekends. In addition to the crowd’s enthusiastic support, the company’s fierce battle to become a sponsor of the teams and buying expensive Television broadcasting contracts have been two large contributing factors to the fostering of the Super League.
However, many sports analysts are saying that there will be a limit to raising the league’s power by foreign players and managers. This is largely because organization and chemistry in professional team sports. As Leicester City F.C has proven last season in the Premier League, a team with the best chemistry can beat teams with better individuals. In other words, having a team full of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi does not always indicate that the team is going to win every game of the season.
Nonetheless, it will certainly be entertaining to watch what progress the Chinese Super League will be able to make in the next four or five years.
Alex Choi
