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The Chinese Super League has started to draw top European players on a regular basis. Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan joined Dalian Yifang and became the latest players to join the Chinese Super League.
China and India are two financial powerhouses in Asia, but when it comes to football, China is way ahead of India. The football scenario in China is also outsmarting the major leagues outside Europe, like the MLS and the ISL. The massive investment in their Football league shows that the Chinese are serious about the game and are ready to become the biggest league outside Europe.
The Chinese league usually begins in the month of March and goes on until November or December, which is almost a year.
The Chinese President Xi Jinping has been leading the transformation in this sport, as he has supported the league in every way possible. He has also laid emphasis on the importance of producing homegrown talent and to support this initiative China have launched several soccer schools in the country.
Several high-profile players like Oscar, Ramires, Alex Teixeira, Jackson Martinez and Jose Fonte are a part Asia’s top-flight league and this has come as a shock for quite a few European fans.
Let us look at why China are luring away the best of players in Europe and is becoming the Football Superpower in Asia.
Money
This is the biggest incentive a player receives as joins to play for a club in the Chinese Super League. The money that the players earn is extraordinary and it helps them secure a future and grow financially. The money involved is not only for the players but also for the football clubs.
The selling clubs receive a good fee for the players, a figure they might not get from their European counterparts. They also sell the players to China so that they might not have to sell the player to their rivals.
Atletico Madrid have done quite a lot of business with Chinese Super League clubs as Jackson Martinez was the first one to go. Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan are the latest ones to leave.
Players usually go to a league like these in the twilight of their career, but the scenario is changing as the likes of Oscar, Hulk, Ramires and the aforementioned duo left at the peak of their prowess. They also have coaches that are capable of winning trophies for big European Clubs but are in China for the growth of the game.
When Oscar was asked why he preferred a move to China and not to the top European clubs he said: "Every football player, or every person who works, wants to earn money to help their families. I came from a social background in Brazil that is very poor."
It works well for both the sides and helps the growth of football in China.
The state wants the game to grow
The amount of support the league has been getting from the government has been phenomenal. It surely looks like China have their eye on hosting a World Cup in the near future.
In 2015, the television rights for the CSL went for an astounding $1.25million for the subsequent five years. That deal was revamped earlier this year to 11 billion yuan until 2025.
China are currently ranked 70 (as of Feb 2018) in the FIFA World Rankings and have only qualified for one FIFA World Cup which was in 2002. They have also failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but this does not stop them from making an attempt to become a football powerhouse in the world.
President Xi Jinping has been keen on investing in sectors which are more sports and entertainment oriented. Their attempt to make a balanced economy with industries which are much more than manufacturing sectors has also made a major impact on the global football map.
Experiences outside Europe
Players like David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Alessandro Del Piero, Dimitar Berbatov are first-hand examples of moving to a different country to try a different brand of football and culture.
This notion has been defied by the Chinese Super League, as young prospects like Oscar, Yannick Carrasco, Axel Witsel chose to join the CSL instead of staying in Europe. Yet, quite a few have managed to compete for a place in the national team which speaks volumes of the competitiveness.
It is a surprising thing to see from players who had a bright a future in Europe. However, they have become an integral part of the growth of the game in the country, and are paving the way for more players.
Europe is facing a lot of competition from the Chinese Super League, and it will an interesting thing to see how they tackle this prospect.
The pressure factor
The pressure is much more when you play for a top European Club when compared to the clubs of the Chinese Super League. The players face a lot of pressure from the fans, the media and the board. The expectation to improve is much more and the players sometimes suffer more than we know.
In China, the clubs are new and the game is a growing sport in the nation. The teams do not have a lot of competition between them, and the rivalries are also not as fierce when compared to Europe.
No offence to the football culture in China, but the league is easy going and top players can play there without much pressure. When Carlos Tevez was playing in China, he was criticised for being overweight and unfit for the game.
Tevez was quoted saying "It's fine because I was on vacation for seven months." on his stint in China. The English Media described his move to China, as the most expensive vacation of all time. He had scored 4 goals for Shanghai Shenhua, and his transfer fee was $41 million. Every goal he scored was valued $10 million, and Diego Maradona said, "He filled Santa's sack with dollars and now he has returned to Boca".
Though Tevez's goal-return warrants criticism, some of the players like Oscar and Ricardo Vaz Te and Jose Fonte now play in a league where their every mistake on the pitch won't make the headlines the following day.
Levelling the competition
China is keen on becoming a dominant force in football global map. Over the last few years, many players have gone to the Chinese Super League and helped them get on the global stage.
When Oscar was questioned on how difficult it would be to compete with the top European Leagues. He said "It’s almost impossible for the Chinese Super League to reach the level of the Premier League. Not only for China but also leagues like Spain – which has Real Madrid and Barcelona – to get to the level of the Premier League is very difficult. In the Premier League every team is very good. That’s why it’s very difficult to reach that level."
Football is the most popular sport in the world, FIFA is the only organisation to have more members than the United Nations. The game is a global game, but the world's biggest economy is very new to this stage and they want to be a force to be reckoned with very soon.
It will be a difficult contest for the Chinese to accomplish their aim, but the way they have stared looks like they are going and growing in the right direction and can take on the European leagues and even the competition or act as a blueprint for other sleeping Asian giants.
