The Bizarre Rise & Fall Of The Chinese Super League

Their strategy of signing players from Europe on massive wages in order to boost the popularity of football in China could actually have somewhat worked if they had managed to sign genuine superstars like Ronaldo, Neymar etc. I doubt many Chinese fans were hyped to see Graziano Pellè or Marouane Fellaini play.

Chinese fans call Tevez “Disney” because instead of training with his teammates, he would bring his wife and kids to Shanghai Disney. Chinese fans know most Chinese players suck. So in a way, Chinese fans expect these overpaid foreign players to be more than just a player. They expect 120% from these players. This is why players like Renato Augusto and Eran Zahavi are so much loved by the fans— they would keep running and keep fighting until the final whistle. As a fan, the madness in Chinese football since around 2014 was just ludicrous. But a few clubs, including my hometown club Beijing Guoan, managed to not spend as much but still remain competitive. The winner of the 2022 season is Wuhan Sanzhen. They were competing in the second tier just the season before. And their success, at least according to many Chinese fans, is because they were able to pay their players on time. Just think about how crazy that is. Hebei FC’s negative 3 points tally is the direct result of a points deduction due to them failing to pay their players’ wages on time. There are rumours saying Guangzhou FC and some of their elite domestic players reached a deal— no wages for the 2022 season in exchange for contract termination at the end of the season. Alfie, if you want to cover the true madness of Chinese football, the 2022 CSL season should definitely be on your list.

As a Chinese football fan, I witnessed the rise of Guangzhou FC Club from 2010 to 2015. They won the AFC Champions League in 2013 and 2015. I still remember that in 2013, when I was a junior high school student, all the boys in my class watched Guangzhou FCVS a Korean club in front of TV. We used to think that Guangzhou FC was the hope of Chinese football. Unfortunately, after the epidemic, the real estate company that sponsored them went bankrupt, and the team lost its leading position. However, I think they bought foreign countries at high prices, just like Saudi Arabia now

It’s crazy how this league just imploded.

You have to remember that the explosion and fall of the Super League coincided with China's very pathetic forms in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Despite high World Cup bet, China suffered an agonising elimination on their own Lunar New Year's Day to Vietnam in the decisive game, a game China must win to maintain any chance of qualify, even this was already slim due to defeat to Japan. Instead, that defeat to Vietnam was a humiliating welcome to the country's Lunar New Year and an end to the country's 2022 WC quest. The defeat to Vietnam was so disheartening that football fans in China went uproar on their social media demanding the whole Chinese FA to resign. Ironically, what happened to China forced Mexico, a country far away but with a historically insane football passion, to reassess their football league Liga MX. The Mexicans suspended promotion and relegation for six years, starting from 2020, to investigate clubs that could potentially go bubble and collapse for this exact reason of financial mismanagement - something the Chinese Super League clubs suffered. The Mexicans clearly did not want a similar China-like football chaos. So far, the result was rather a mixed bag.

Where football and politics intersect that's where you'll find Alfie. Love this channel.

You had video about biggest stadiums that host "smallest" clubs. Maybe you can do other way around. Biggest/most successful clubs with smallest home stadiums.

This city I used to live in (Taizhou) had a team go up three divisions in four years, was building a huge stadium, and had players like Tosic, then suddenly went out of existence. The government has the power to do that in China, so you can never really relax or make long term plans. I still have a Jiangsu Suning jacket I bought in 2018, weird wearing clothing of a team that does not exist anymore.

"And no, before any of you say it, this wasn't my longest ever introduction, that is still the Suriname video, I checked" That's why we love you, Alfie, your crazily long introductions and waffling about completely unrelated things mid sentence is all part of the charm.

Speaking about West Brom and how there Chinese owner is still in power. The club Recently took out a £20 Million loan to fund “day by day activities”. We’re already £10 million in debt as our owner has not repaid any of the loans he’s taken!!! Not looking good financially for West Brom right now. Would be good to see a video from hitc sevens about my club as even though we’re in good form on the pitch upstairs is a shambles. Lai out!

my absolutely favorite part of hitc sevens is the quality and length of tangents that introduce the topic.

Fun fact, when chinese FA made the rule that one match each team need to have at least two Chinese U23 players played the game, the manager will sub on the youngster in 90th minute, or be subbed off minutes after the game started. And half decent U23 players become extremely expensive.

Ah Suning, my hometown team. Still remember listening to the live match reports on the radio when they were called Shuntian. It's a shame that they came to an abrupt end.

I'm frankly surprised that China didn't manage to improve the national team standard much despite investment, because I am keenly aware of how bonkers their athletic reserves are and how quickly they can muster up competitive athletes seemingly out of nowhere if the Party wills it. Here's a little story. I'm a longtime follower of biathlon, and about 15 years ago (give or take, it's all a blur by now) China suddenly decided that they want a competitive presence in the sport, specifically women's. An astonishing season followed, with numerous Chinese biathletes nobody had previously heard of suddenly challenging for top 10 (which is high in biathlon) on a regular basis. Utterly bizarrely, when a leg of the World Cup was held on a relatively hilly track with a tricky but not horribly bad downward slope, pretty much ALL of those athletes just couldn't handle it, falling left and right. They were very fast on the skis, very good at shooting... but apparently nobody taught them a way of navigating a slope! Then, over the next few years, the Chinese interest waned and now we barely have any Chinese presence in the sport again. Had they persisted, they surely would have a World Cup winner or an Olympic gold medalist by now, probably more than one. China is ridiculous, man.

I can't wait for the same documentary on The Saudi Pro League to come out in 5 years

I love Alfie's style of video, it really takes you on a journey and idk abt others but I get really into the little subplots and silly jokes along the way

Your channel is without a doubt the most informative and educational, great video!

Hats off HITC Stevens, this was a highly informative video. One suggestion, will be nice if you change the monotone for the entire length of the video.

Top marks to The Chinese FA for putting salary caps in place. The way it was going previously was a straight road to everyone going bust.

I swear I don’t see Oscar in China until he spawns with a TOTS at the end of the season