The Chinese Super League Thread

[LMAO]

--- and also like I said in the International Transfer thread, the CSL won't become football mecca because China sucks to live in if you grew up in a developed nation.

Take your point on GDP and hence available spend ... but spending on football as you know bears little resemblance to overall income, die-hard fans will spend a ridiculous amount of their gross income on the team they support ... the Chinese are no different in that respect .... in a home with a total income of 300 dollars a month you will always find satellite TV

Where I would disagree - as I live in Asia as an ex-pat I have a fair idea - living here don't suck at all, unless of course you meant literally .... when you have money, and footballers have a feckin' shed load, you can live like a king .... I'm nowhere near as wealthy as a footballer but I live the Life of Reily .... money can buy you anything you want out here .... and it can also buy you out of anything as well ....

Having personally seen the way many footballers behave out here on tour (or they did until the Leicester boys fecked' it up) I can assure you they will be moving here in droves ... honestly, it does not suck to live here ... in fact far from it ....

Footballers move to Turkey, Russia even feckin' Mersyside ... they can cope with China ....

I didn't mean that the Chinese can't afford cable and internet. I was arguing more in terms of advertising. Advertisers in America and Europe pay a lot more, even though the viewership may not be as great, because people have greater discretionary incomes, leading to Americans and Europeans being able to afford a lot more than the average Chinese can. Yes, China has its share of billionaires, but the investment won't reap the returns they do in America and Europe.

I've lived in Asia too (United Arab Emirates and China). The UAE—Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and even Sharjah—is dope af, save for the migrant workers' living conditions. China sucked; I said in the other thread when talking about the CSL that I hung out with upper middle class and upper class Chinese pretty much my entire time there, but it didn't make China any less shitty. Maybe China won't be bad in 50 years if it becomes a developed nation, but it's very different living in a developing nation when you grew up in a developed nation. I love traveling to developing nations and experiencing the ruggedness, but I couldn't live in them long-term. I can't speak for everyone, but personally after having experienced China, if I had the option to double my salary in China or have the familiar comforts of a developed country (USA, Canada, Australia, much of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Singapore), then I'd pick comfort 10/10. For me, the trade-off in money isn't worth the trade-off in comfort.

And yeah, I don't disagree about footballers moving to China. Where I do disagree is the caliber of the players and region they'll come from. Players from developed nations won't be moving in droves (why we haven't seen many Europeans in China compared to South Americans and Africans), and the actual superstar players from developing nations (Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Sanchez, Aguero, etc.) won't turn down the allure of Europe for similar salaries but more exposure in their primes. What China will see is the above average players from developing nations (Oscar, Ramires, Asamoah Gyan, Demba Ba, etc.) looking for a payday since they're used to a developing country standard of living—like Russia and Turkey.

Like Sims said, Chinese clubs are Shakhtar on steroids, but you don't hear of superstars yearning to go to Donetsk.

[Angelito]

The landscape of football will dramatically change in the next 10 years.

You can't compare CLS to MLS. America has a bigger share in other sports. China, whilst they do, have much, much higher interest in football than America. China also has the population to back this spending. With India and China attracting eyeballs, we have to accept that Europe now have two serious major players in the market, especially China more than India.

Apart from the Premier League, I can't see other leagues competing with China. Not now, but in a decade or so, we might witness an expanded international club tournament along the lines of the UCL/World Cup - a hybrid or so. FIFA World Cup won't be that competition, unless they revamp the structure.

Interesting times.

[elkanofan]

Has anyone actually watched a match in this pub league?

Is it as bad quality wise as I suspect it to be?

Been to a game a couple years back. Terrible quality, seen better skills from some Powerleague lads. Tried watching a few games on telly but always switch off due to boredom. Atmosphere is good though, fans are loud and dont stop singing. Tickets cost peanuts so would go again just for a laugh.

Yes.



Although its got better since then.

[Cripps]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38524429

Well that's that then

[LMAO]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38524429

Well that's that then

"In December, Cristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes claimed the player was offered an £85m annual salary after an unnamed Chinese club approached Real Madrid with a £250m bid."

As I've said, no superstar in his prime is moving to China any time soon—money or not—because China sucks to live in if you come from a developed country upbringing.

Now, maybe people can stop crying that the sky is falling and enjoy the hegemony of European league football for the foreseeable future.

[elkanofan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38524429

Well that's that then

"In December, Cristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes claimed the player was offered an £85m annual salary after an unnamed Chinese club approached Real Madrid with a £250m bid."

As I've said, no superstar in his prime is moving to China any time soon—money or not—because China sucks to live in if you come from a developed country upbringing.

Now, maybe people can stop crying that the sky is falling and enjoy the hegemony of European league football for the foreseeable future.

No because you don't see the apocalyptic issues happening in every european league financially bar the Premier League.

Even if China caps its spending it shit can fund wages that 15 la Liga clubs put together couldn't, so on with Serie A, Ligue 1, etc...

Cristino is 32 in February, there is no need for him to go there he has enough money as it is. The fear rightfully is about the next 5 years and the 'next' great superstars, the next generation of players which coincidentally coincides with football in general is going through a very piss poor generation of young players. Not one player under the age of 21 is world class or even near a world class level. This is creating a huge pool of players around the same level who all have a finite number of destinations at a handful of superclubs who can pay them the premium wages to supplement them if they reach a world class level.

China may suck to live in for a common man but for a football player especially if your brazilian it dosen't:



Look at a guy like Ricardo Goulart who could easily be playing for a team like Sevilla, Villarreal, Celta, Lazio but hes in China. Oscar's move is gigantic and scary statement for European football because guys like Oscar who weren't getting playing time at Chelsea and had little to no options to move to a similarly ranked big team and get playing time will go to China over a Villarreal, Celta, Real Sociedad, Everton, Lazio, Lyon. Established players like Oscar do not see these clubs as 'prestigious' its all about money to them!

China can comfortably now buy 20 players on Oscars level! have 4 players at Oscars level at each and every Chinese Super League team plus one top asian players That alone will bring the leagues competitiveness and quality level as a whole higher than Ligue 1, Eredivisie and, Portuguese League. These leagues have 2-4 good teams then the rest of them are shit, feeder club, village teams going nowhere. Compare teams like Bastia, Maritimo and Sparta Rotterdam that to a big bucks league in china where you know that every team has potential to give you a game and has their own thing going on.

This Chinese takeover is happening due to European superpowers greed. China has a league setup which is designed to be competitive for all teams to have gigantic funding. This is inevitable, it will take time and China has already made many mistakes and will do so in the future but this league becoming a force is inevitable, europe needs to get its head out of its ass an be ready for whats coming.

The true fear is if these 12-16 yer olds come into the super league and can actually match the quality of players like Oscar, remember before China have never had a serious structure an setup to develop footballers before. Now they are drilling their young players to become superstars.


Realistically in the next 5 years just need to get to at least Japan's level and then all hell will break lose, Japan improved massively from when Wenger/Zico especially went there in the early 90's to after their world cup, producing guys like Nakata, Ono and Endo. Just imagine a country with so many people churning out player after player! Its scary!

[LMAO]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38524429

Well that's that then

"In December, Cristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes claimed the player was offered an £85m annual salary after an unnamed Chinese club approached Real Madrid with a £250m bid."

As I've said, no superstar in his prime is moving to China any time soon—money or not—because China sucks to live in if you come from a developed country upbringing.

Now, maybe people can stop crying that the sky is falling and enjoy the hegemony of European league football for the foreseeable future.

No because you don't see the apocalyptic issues happening in every european league financially bar the Premier League.

Even if China caps its spending it shit can fund wages that 15 la Liga clubs put together couldn't, so on with Serie A, Ligue 1, etc...

Cristino is 32 in February, there is no need for him to go there he has enough money as it is. The fear rightfully is about the next 5 years and the 'next' great superstars, the next generation of players which coincidentally coincides with football in general is going through a very piss poor generation of young players. Not one player under the age of 21 is world class or even near a world class level. This is creating a huge pool of players around the same level who all have a finite number of destinations at a handful of superclubs who can pay them the premium wages to supplement them if they reach a world class level.

China may suck to live in for a common man but for a football player especially if your brazilian it dosen't:

Look at a guy like Ricardo Goulart who could easily be playing for a team like Sevilla, Villarreal, Celta, Lazio but hes in China. Oscar's move is gigantic and scary statement for European football because guys like Oscar who weren't getting playing time at Chelsea and had little to no options to move to a similarly ranked big team and get playing time will go to China over a Villarreal, Celta, Real Sociedad, Everton, Lazio, Lyon. Established players like Oscar do not see these clubs as 'prestigious' its all about money to them!

China can comfortably now buy 20 players on Oscars level! have 4 players at Oscars level at each and every Chinese Super League team plus one top asian players That alone will bring the leagues competitiveness and quality level as a whole higher than Ligue 1, Eredivisie and, Portuguese League. These leagues have 2-4 good teams then the rest of them are shit, feeder club, village teams going nowhere. Compare teams like Bastia, Maritimo and Sparta Rotterdam that to a big bucks league in china where you know that every team has potential to give you a game and has their own thing going on.

This Chinese takeover is happening due to European superpowers greed. China has a league setup which is designed to be competitive for all teams to have gigantic funding. This is inevitable, it will take time and China has already made many mistakes and will do so in the future but this league becoming a force is inevitable, europe needs to get its head out of its ass an be ready for whats coming.

The true fear is if these 12-16 yer olds come into the super league and can actually match the quality of players like Oscar, remember before China have never had a serious structure an setup to develop footballers before. Now they are drilling their young players to become superstars.

Realistically in the next 5 years just need to get to at least Japan's level and then all hell will break lose, Japan improved massively from when Wenger/Zico especially went there in the early 90's to after their world cup, producing guys like Nakata, Ono and Endo. Just imagine a country with so many people churning out player after player! Its scary!

That's the point I'm making though: the Brazilian players going to China aren't superstars. If Neymar, Marcelo, Douglas Costa, or Coutinho join CSL clubs this summer, then the narrative changes.

Do you believe that Oscar would've chosen Shanghai SIPG over Real or Barca if they'd have been in for him or if he was getting playing time at Chelsea? I don't. The same applies for Ricardo Goulart; no way he chooses China over one of the top clubs in Europe. Europe will 999 times out of 1000 be the more attractive option because of the prestige for players from developing countries. Yes, there will be a few outliers (Oscar, Ricardo Goulart, Renato Augusto), but Europe will continue to get most of the developing world's top talent should that talent leave their native lands.

The players are going to China because they don't have the option to play at Europe's biggest clubs; and tbh, I don't consider Villarreal, Celta, Real Sociedad, Everton, Lazio, and Lyon as prestigious—same with the Eredivisie, the Primeira Liga, and most of Ligue 1. If the players start turning down Real, Barca, Bayern, us, Chelsea, United, City, Liverpool, Juventus, Milan, Inter, PSG, and the other huge clubs of Europe, then I'll start showing concern. But that day won't happen for a long time, if ever, because those clubs will continue to poach the best talent available from developing countries, regardless of the talent level dropping off for the upcoming generation. Besides, like I've stated, if it ever gets to the point where individual European leagues can't compete with the CSL, then Europe's top clubs will consolidate into a European super league that China won't be able to compete with.

And yes, China does suck to live in even if you're not a common man if you come from a developed country. I've stated many times that I hung out with upper middle and upper class Chinese during my time there, but that didn't make China any less shit. It's because China is still developing and nowhere near the standards we enjoy in developed countries.

China's population isn't an automatic qualifier that they'll become a footballing powerhouse. From firsthand experience, the country is more feverish with basketball than it is football (Kobe is a god there, even NBA outcast Stephon Marbury is huge there - orders of magnitude more popular than Messi and Ronaldo are in China), but China isn't a basketball powerhouse. Despite more than 300 million Chinese people playing basketball (it's like the entire US population playing basketball), China has only managed to produce one basketball talent that is up there with the world's best - Yao Ming . China could all of a sudden pump out twenty Messis a year, or they could fail to produce a top footballer; it remains to be seen.

(Interesting videos though. Thanks for sharing them.)

[Zenith]

Gent just beat CSL team Yanbian Funde with 11-0.

Gives you an idea of the level...

[elkanofan]

Gent just beat CSL team Yanbian Funde with 11-0.

Gives you an idea of the level...

Oh dear Tevez

[GoonerAlexandre]

That save at 4:38

Other than that, dire af

[Zenith]

Gent just beat CSL team Yanbian Funde with 11-0.

Gives you an idea of the level...

Oh dear Tevez

Mercary FC no.4 & company demolished by the almighty roar of Brisbane.

More and more Chinese clubs are sending their 'star players' out on loan - Shensua being one of the latest with Ba.

Perhaps they're finally realising that signing better players doesn't necessarily guarantee better results.

Naive to think that paying astronimical wages is enough to motivate each and every one of these mercenaries; they too know that regardless of whether they perform or not, their career and market value has nose dived the moment they signed their contract.

[Zenith]

Meanwhile Cheik Tioté has joined second tier side Beijing Enterprises Group FC.

[Va-Va-Voom]

Meanwhile Cheik Tioté has joined second tier side Beijing Enterprises Group FC.

How much is he on?

[Sims]

absolute poverty player so im not surprised

[elkanofan]

China's problem is they don;t understand need to build their own football empire rather than try to hire people especially from England or europe & south american mercenaries.

Nobody in europe & south america wants China to get good at football, they are happy its been in a huge mess and a sorry state for years and long may it continue along with getting paid to see it continue. China have actually got worse over the years especially since the 90's China were not far behind Japan & Korea in the 90's yet both these nations have kicked on, improved and produce quality players yet China who had about 5-10 decent, average players playing in Germany, England in this era cannot get one player even near these leagues now.