Chinese football is engulfed in a corruption scandal

Sergio Aguero is one of the most successful strikers of his generation, but he even achieved a rare honor in 2015, when he became the first Premier League footballer to take a selfie with Mr. Xi Jinping. China's football-loving leader.

The photo, taken at Man City's Etihad Stadium, with then-British Prime Minister David Cameron, took place during a period when Mr. Xi was building a close relationship with Britain and pushing ahead with his plans to turn China into a superpower. world football in 2050. So far, both ambitions seem far-fetched.

In 2016, the Chinese Football Federation (CFA) announced plans to build 70,000 football fields and aim for 50 million people to play the sport by 2020. Mr. Xi also wants China to host the World Cup. But by 2021, only nearly 27,000 stadiums have been built and the Chinese government seems to have lost interest in football. Now, the corruption scandal could reduce the appeal of football in China even further, as soon as stadiums reopen after the pandemic blockade.

The incident dates back to November 2022, when one of the most famous figures in Chinese football, Li Tie, disappeared. Li, a former Everton player, once coached the country's men's national team. Chinese authorities say he is being investigated on suspicion of "seriously breaking the law".

Several other sports industry leaders were also investigated, culminating in the arrest of CFA President Chen Xuyuan on February 14. It is the most sweeping campaign against football since Xi took power in 2012, and is also a "severe blow to those involved in the sport", in the words of Rowan Simons, president of ChinaClubFootball - a football movement system. "This represents reform over the past 10 years that are completely meaningless."

Chen received high credit when he was appointed to the position of CFA President in 2019. Previously, he was Chairman of Shanghai International Port Group, which bought one of the city's clubs and changed its name to Shanghai Port FC in 2015, laid the foundation for the Super League championship in 2018.

"In the past, the CFA President was always appointed by the government," says senior lecturer in sports policy and management at Manchester Metropolitan University Qi Peng. That sometimes leads to Chinese football being governed by bureaucrats with little interest in the cultural or business aspects of the sport. "So when a former football player like Chen is introduced as president, it is considered a very positive sign," Peng said.

However, Chen's entrepreneurial background did not prevent him from influencing and reducing the commerciality of Chinese football. This policy puts many clubs in financial jeopardy.

Between 2011 and 2020, Chinese clubs spent about $1.7 billion on international transfers, according to FIFA data. The peak was in 2016 when the Chinese Super League spent $450 million on international deals. Authorities questioned clubs why they were spending so much money on foreign players, who "will only take money out of China", according to Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based sports analyst, and They started blocking those deals.

In 2017, a 100% transfer tax was applied to foreign players valued at over 45 million CNY (6.1 million USD) and domestic players transferred for over 20 million CNY. "According to the plan, that money is used to develop movement football," Simons revealed. "But it's gone. Some people suspect the money went into the pockets of corrupt officials."

Half of China's top clubs are wholly or partially owned by real estate companies. But last year, the real estate industry was frozen by the pandemic and the government crackdown. Some big clubs went bankrupt, showing that their business models are very fragile.

Currently, CFA turns to women's football development. Big clubs are required to form women's teams if they want to participate in the Super League. Some people hope that women's football will be a blank page. And the Chinese women's team has had a better record at the international level than the men's team when it won tickets to the 2023 World Cup, something the men's team hasn't done since 2002. According to Simons, the CFA seems to be "going from the ground up." give up men's football, which only brings troubles."

Some analysts believe the arrests of Chen and Li show that key figures in Chinese football no longer have the strong political backing they once had.

The crackdown in football comes at a time when basketball - another key Chinese sport - is facing a crisis with the risk of revealing more secrets about corruption in Chinese sports.

Last month, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers basketball team withdrew from the Chinese Basketball Federation (CBA), and posted a statement on social media with fiery accusations about the federation. They criticized the CBA's mismanagement, calling it "the source of all the chaos of Chinese basketball". The club directly attacked Yao Ming, one of China's biggest sports stars, who played for the Houston Rockets in the US as well as the Chinese basketball team. Yao is the President of the CBA and a member of the National People's Congress of China. The Tigers held him accountable for the increasingly blurred lines between the commercial and executive divisions of the CBA.

The Tigers have apologized and been back in the league, but some question whether the allegations can be buried. "The Chinese government has dealt with all the individuals involved... So there will come a time when basketball is touched," said Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports geopolitical economics at Skema Business School.