Chinese Super League: From Bale bidding to team bus sales

 Chinese Super League: From Bale bidding to team bus sales

Hundreds of supporters flocked to Shanghai Airport in June 2016 to see one of the most well-known football players in the world move to the city.

At the height of his career, the 29-year-old Brazilian international Hulk was bought for about £46 million by Shanghai SIPG manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, with an estimated weekly wage of £320,000.

A Shanghai SIPG scarf was draped over his neck and a bunch of flowers was thrown into his arms as he approached his destination.

Other well-known players signed with even larger price tags throughout the course of the next three years.

Six months later Oscar, the Chelsea star, arrived. His earnings are said to be £400,000 per week, and the transfer cost was speculated to be over £60 million.

After winning the Premier League with both Manchester United and City, Carlos Tevez apparently received a higher salary upon joining.

Jackson Martínez of Colombia, Alex Teixeira, a target for Liverpool, and Ezequiel Lavezzi of Paris Saint-Germain were all enticed by large transfer prices and generous salary offers.

The Super League's ascent aligned with President Xi Jinping's aim to establish the nation as a football nation. He said in 2011 that China will enter a men's national team in order to earn a spot in the World Cup and ultimately serve as the tournament's host.

The Chinese Super League's aspirations to establish the nation as a football giant started to take shape as they started to invest large sums of money.

Blues manager Antonio Conte said, "The Chinese market is a threat to all organizations in the world, not just Chelsea," after Oscar's departure east.

"It looks like China lacks the financial power to move the entire European league to China," said Wenger, the manager of Arsenal.

In contrast, the momentum has reversed, the bubble is popping, and players are departing in less than ten years.

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Jack Seely was not among the well-known newcomers. In December 2015, he joined with Changchun Yatai of the CSL. His father, Tony Seely, was a striker with QPR.

Playing in Hong Kong at the time, Sealy, then 28 years old, was drawn to the Super League by the famous names, elite football competition, and financial benefits.

"I was there when it was growing so it was very exciting to be there," he said to the BBC.

Although it had previously been mentioned, not many people were really aware of it. And when you informed anyone who understood anything about football, their reaction was, "Oh my goodness, you're going to the Super League."

"I have absolutely no regrets about it. It was incredible."

Amazing, yet peculiar as well.

Regarding some of his well-known rivals, "you kind of have to completely forget who they are," he said.

Regardless of how you want to interpret it, I've moved up and they've stepped down. All you can do is treat them equally and do your best. But it seemed so unreal.

Oscar – I've seen him play for Chelsea, and you can tell who every player is just by playing FIFA. It was really rather amazing."

By 2019, the league had become so large that Jiangsu Suning approached Real Madrid's Gareth Bale, who was formerly the most expensive player in the world, about a three-year, £1 million-per-week deal.

In less than two years, Jiangsu Suning's financial condition deteriorated to the point that they had to sell off the team bus in order to raise money.

How did the football scene in China get to be so big?

The Chinese Football Association declared a wage ceiling in December 2020, which made matters worse. The league had previously imposed a "luxury tax" that made large-scale transfers very costly and forbade sponsors from naming clubs after themselves.

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) expressed optimism at the time that the action would "curb money football" and create a "investment bubble" in the national team.

China's sports authorities have been wary about the league's expenditures for a while. It pledged to reduce expenditure and rein in "irrational investment" in 2017, accusing clubs of "burning money" and giving international players "exorbitant wages".

Undoubtedly, the pay limit achieved its intended outcome. Due to this quota, international players' weekly earnings will be limited to £52,000, a substantial decrease from the contracts that were previously given to well-known players.

Certain teams need these limitations in order to accrue debt from their high costs.

The mounting cash flow issues that many of China's largest home-building conglomerates were experiencing further exacerbated the woes of several clubs.

Furthermore, the Covid epidemic struck.

Due to China's stringent containment measures, fewer games were played and those that were played lasted longer than two years in private. Revenues from sponsorships and broadcasts fell steadily.

Samir Memisevic, a defender from Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been a member of Hebei FC since February 2020. However, it has come to light during his second season that there were some problems at the club on the back end.

He told the BBC, "I felt something was wrong in the second season."

A few months later, money troubles surfaced. After that, they ran into serious issues with the Chinese players; they neglected to pay them for many months, and by the end of that year, I was certain Hebei would cease to exist."

Memicević agreed to take a loan to Beijing Guoan, one of the best teams in the league.

In a desperate bid to survive, Hebei, who had recruited Lavezzi and former regulars in the Premier League, Javier Mascherano and Gervinho, during the CSL's peak years, destroyed their young teams.

A few staff members, who had been unpaid leave holders for many months, volunteered to work for free since the club, which was run by a bankrupt real estate corporation, was having trouble covering its electricity costs.

But it was all for nothing. Hebei broke apart earlier this year.

Playing for Al-Nasr in Dubai these days, Memisevic expressed his sympathy, saying, "I feel very sorry for Hebei regarding what happened because that they're one of the biggest teams with big names and money."

It has since vanished.

"It's quite unfortunate, but several Chinese clubs have experienced it. Guangzhou and Wuhan have likewise vanished in my sight. It is quite depressing.

Chinese football has received significant financial support, therefore I'm hoping for improvement. However, I doubt things will remain the same.

Without his beloved club, Guangzhou City, the Chinese Super League won't be the same for John Hassett. The team also dissolved in March, having previously been led by Eriksen and former Rangers and Arsenal player Giovanni Van Bronckhorst.

Hassett enjoyed getting to know other supporters and joining them in supporting the squad at each home game.

"For a lot of people, the social side was as important as the football," he said to the BBC.

"We used to have drinks before and after the games in our small store, which was located outside the stadium. After the games, it also turned into a hangout for the local Chinese fan club. It gained a lot of popularity.

"We were all let down. We held a vigil at our beer store for a bit after the club closed. Outside the stadium, we had beer with a few other groups. It was enjoyable.

"One of the issues is that no club has established a profitable business model.

"Ticket prices are really low. The cost of our season pass was £50 or £60. Some student organizations purchased tickets for less than that. Most individuals grab their official jerseys for £3 outside the stadium rather than purchasing them.

"The largest issue facing the Super League is revenue creation for clubs. Where will the money come from when the economy improves?"

Another question was being raised as the countdown to the stadiums being reopened to crowds started late last year: Where did the money go?

A scandal involving corruption swept across the top ranks of domestic sports.

In August, Li Tie, a former China men's team head coach and Everton midfielder, was the subject of an investigation into "serious violations of the law" in addition to bribery charges.

Similar accusations are being brought against former Chinese Football Association president Chen Zuyuan, while Shandong Taishan player Son Jun-ho, a South Korean, has been in custody since May on suspicion of bribery.

There are currently very few international players in the league. Players who are presently competing in China, both international and local, did not reply to BBC requests for interviews.

Nonetheless, there is still a market for domestic football despite the league's issues.

In only five minutes after being on sale, tickets for Beijing Guoan's first game in front of an audience in April were sold out.

The aggressive talent acquisition being done by elite Saudi Arabian clubs is reminiscent of the CSL's heyday, according to Alberto Doldan, an agent who has worked with La Liga in China and completed transactions around Asia.

He is certain that the Chinese league will survive, despite the fact that it will look different than it did in the past.

"Many teams in China have disappeared because of financial problems," he said to the BBC.

However, because they are working with young players, I believe the future will be better. I believe that additional high-level local players will emerge throughout the next five, six, or seven years.

"China remains a favorable country. Local players have the future, in my opinion."

With fewer flying superstars, the emphasis has shifted to producing more domestic talents to advance the league and increase China's prospects of winning the World Cup, a competition in which the Chinese men's team has only qualified once.