If anyone had any doubts regarding how far a top-tier Chinese club playing in the Super League can go to lure European and global talents to their country, that would have all cast away after hearing the salary of China’s recent managerial acquisition, Andre Villas-Boas.
For those who are not familiar with his name, he is an ex-Chelsea and Tottenham manager, who had worked under Jose Mourinho for over six years.
Villas-Boas was signed by Shanghai SIPG for a whopping annual salary of £11 million, on the fourth of November.
Just in case you get the perspective of that giant annual salary, it is even better than that of Antonio Conte at Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Arsene Wenger at the Emirates. It is only bettered by the two Manchester-based EPL managers, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. Guardiola earns the highest at £15 million.
Just because they have been twice beaten to the Championship by Luiz Scolari’s Guangzhou Evergrande, they are bent on getting the best in Europe to lead their resurgence to the top.
Earlier this year they even got the signature of the Brazilian forward Hulk, for a giant £45 million, only to pair him later with Villas-Boas, under whom he had worked for two previous spells.
The Super League’s intent became brutally clear earlier in 2015 when they landed Alexis Teixeira and ex-Chelsea midfielder Ramires for a combined fee of £58 million. To further strengthen their statement,as a global football powerhouse to be reckoned with, they even hired in ex-As Roma and Ivory Coast international Gervinho and Tottenham reject Paulinho for another 17 million euros.
So the intent is obvious. Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the country’s biggest E-commerce industry gave a green signal to Prime Minister Xi Jinping’s ambition to bring top-class international football to China. He even desired to host a FIFA World Cup by 2030, in his country.
Alibaba’s CEO Zhang Dazhong made it clear in a past interview in that they have all set their eyes on revolutionising their nascent sports market and the recent approach and attitude of every Chinese top-tier club seems to be reflective of that.
The biggest advantage CSL has got over other European leagues, apart from their giant cash reserves, is the fact that they do not have any fair play rules like the FFP, bordering the European clubs, which enables them to spend unhindered.
Even for European stars, they no longer see CSL as a post-retirement destination like the MLS in the United States. That is exactly why young players like Paulinho, Demba Ba, and Fredy Guarin have all moved to China.
If a 38-year old manager, like Villas-Boas, takes up a job in China, it is quite palpable the impact the CSL has over the decision of any global player or a manager.
In all fairness, the only other league the comes close to matching the CSL’s prowess is the Indian Super League, which is however played for only three months from October to December.
Like the CSL, the ISL has drawn many top-class internationals from Helder Postiga and Florent Malouda to Elano and Robert Pires, who played the inaugural season in 2014.
Even the managerial list is also quite impressive with Brazil’s own Zico managing FC Goa, the club where Virat Kohli owns a hefty share, former Inter Milan captain Marco Matterazi managing the Chennai outfit and ex-Villareal coach Jose Molina guiding the Kolkata franchise.
Even though in the first season, it became the fourth-most viewed league across the world yet it has failed to lift from thereon. Even some the I-league clubs (the actual domestic competition in the country), most notably Churchill Brothers of Goa have complained about the detrimental impact of this three-month league to the fitness and freshness of the indigenous players.
Finally, comes the A-League.
Though domestically one of the most popular competitions in any sport, A-League still has a lot of ground to cover before it catches China’s ever-imposing Asian football dominion. Australia comes nowhere near to Chinese spending spree, which saw their own transfer record get broken three times in three weeks last season.
However, on a head-to-head basis, it is dead even among the clubs between the two nations in the Asian Champions league.
According to some recent predictions, CSL’s popularity will be third behind the EPL and Bundesliga by 2020. Broadcast-wise, the domestic rights fee has increased exponentially over the last couple of seasons, and the influx of foreign stars might well as see CSL being broadcasted internationally, including in India and Australia.
Though A-League might just have the edge by now, by the standards of the game, yet with such unhindered influx, the tide is destined to change.
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