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.
suave
Guest
Plans r ready to have ISL run for 6-7 months from 2017 ( with merger) and even all the foreign stars have said that they would be happy to play in a longer league ...on the contrary to wot u said a longer league would kick start even more bigger investments and bigger names in ISL !
Amrit
Roar Guru
When you say, 'There’s another thread stating that Chinese broadcasters are now paying $700 million per annum to broadcast all 380 Premier League games into China. That’s almost three times more than what Chinese broadcasters are paying for the CSL.'- I can't argue with that cause that happened, but why do you think that a league that matters needs to have broadcasters paying more for home product than foreign one ? To be fair with you CSL is getting the broadcasting rights from India and SE Asia so as to telecast their games in those countries.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
My personal opinion is that you can only be a league which matters if your broadcasters are paying more for the local product than what they pay for a foreign product. There's another thread stating that Chinese broadcasters are now paying $700 million per annum to broadcast all 380 Premier League games into China. That's almost three times more than what Chinese broadcasters are paying for the CSL. Therefore, it's pretty hard to argue that the CSL is a league which matters. I wonder what the Japanese broadcasters pay for the J-League (in contrast to the Premier League), and what the Sth Korean broadcasters pay for the K-League (in contrast to the Premier League). In case you're wondering, at this very instance, Optus pays more for the Premier League than what Fox/SBS pay for the A-League. That might change in the forthcoming new broadcast deal. At a minimum, the FFA would be hoping to at least match the $63 million per annum Optus is currently paying for the Premier League rights.
Amrit
Roar Guru
That merger is not happening in near future, obviously because of the lack of funds; The foreign recruits are coming over here because it's a three month tournament. The I-League though needs quality investment to improve Indian football.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
The nature of the ISL means that essentially it is a different type of competition to the normal leagues. The spending power is limited to attracting past greats and managers in-between jobs. Even Ricky Herbert had a stint with North East. How the mooted merger with the I-League proceeds is a hotly debated topic and one that many of us will be watching with interest. Hopefully from that merger a balance in the forces of Indian football can be found and the resulting league can then be compared against the likes of the CSL, A-League, J-League and K-League.
Amrit
Roar Guru
Well I guess domestic viewership, international headlines and world-wide broadcasting rights make a game popular across the world. That's what happening to CSL.
At work
Roar Rookie
If you're going off viewership then yes by that measure I can see the CSL actually becoming no.1 But surely we can't use that measure for popularity because it is too heavily biased towards countries with huge populations. Case in point the Indian Super League being 'more popular' than both Serie A and Ligue 1. I have no doubts though that the CSL in the near future could become the biggest and best league in Asia. Money talks and should bring both short term and long term benefits to the CSL
Amrit
Roar Guru
Investment has already been made outside China as well. Russia and China are the two countries which have given global football some of the biggest investments (through owners, sponsorship and broadcasting rights). Alibaba still remains a strong force behind their rise. The annual financial assets of the Super League’s newly conquered sponsor- Ping An Insurance, hovers around 645.7 billion US$. It has its operations across the South East to Macau and Hong Kong as well and has good visions of improving on that.
Amrit
Roar Guru
it is not at all improbable The league has seen a five-fold increase in domestic attendance since its inaugural season. The ISL soared to become the fourth-most viewed league per game, in 2014, toppling Serie A and Ligue One CSL has all the ingredients to launch itself by 2020 as the 'league of Asia'. With all these international recruits, especially some of the managers, there is no doubt that they would be there and thereabout.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Given the amount of money held by individuals and businesses in China, I think the next decade could see more Chinese investment in football outside of China. Particularly with the government indicating priority sport investment in football. What that could mean for the A-League remains unclear. Other leagues may have a better potential of return but need a greater financial outlay to compete. The best bang for buck might be a competition like the A-League, but I think there are also questions regarding what this will mean for the development of the game here. Domestic owners seem to also have the development of the game in Australia at heart, while it is understandable foreign owners may see it as a shot in the arm for development in their home countries. Ideally, if the saturation of CSL ownership means some flow-on effects to the A-League, then hopefully this means better infrastructure investment, as well as attracting high calibre of players and a few marque coaches as well. Perhaps the greatest outcome of investment from China might be for NPL or newly minted A-League clubs, to grow the number of professional clubs.
At work
Roar Rookie
"According to some recent predictions, CSL’s popularity will be third behind the EPL and Bundesliga by 2020" Haha impossible, I believe they can only sign 3 foreign players to each squad, meaning the money hungry imports will be surrounded by a dramatic drop in class of player. I don't doubt the CSL is on the rise, but I'd be giving it 20 years instead of 3-4 to become that popular.