Despite their high hopes, last year was a huge disappointment for fans of Chinese soccer. Eleven years of professionalism resulted only in an apparently irretrievable mess, with dialogue between the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and soccer clubs reduced to bickering by the time October's "soccer storm" broke.
Wang Junsheng, 37, has been engaged in market research and development for Shanghai Shenhua Club and the city's football association for years, and is now general manager of the Shanghai New Season Football Development Co. In a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency, he reviewed Chinese soccer's reforms, which began in 1994.
In Wang's opinion, during the first four years, due to the introduction of home and away games, fans and local governments both showed extraordinary enthusiasm that vitalized the game.
Unfortunately, this good start was undermined in 1997 with China's failure to qualify for the World Cup. It was a heavy blow to Chinese soccer's newly established confidence, and was caused by the CFA's over-interference in the national squad's affairs, Wang said.
In the same year, the short-lived club Qianwei Huandao bought players at high prices to set up an elite team. This encouraged high players' fees that would create overnight millionaires who often ended up using their newfound wealth to support unhealthy lifestyles.
Overall, the period between 1998-2001 saw a large number of people using the game's success to make a quick profit, said Wang. Even the administrative bodies lined their own pockets, raising admission charges and asking for exorbitant sponsorship fees.
Referees and soccer brokers joined the gold rush too. While referee bribery caused scandal amongst fans, an increasing number of inferior players from overseas were introduced into league matches, not only raising clubs' handling costs but dampening domestic players' enthusiasm.
After China's first appearance in the 2002 World Cup finals, the CFA began to try to use this success for their own politicking. By setting impracticable targets in World Cup and Olympic preliminaries, they hoped to capitalize on the teams' achievements for their own gain. As both teams were eliminated in 2004, their plan came to naught.
"Disrespect for the fundamentals of soccer development, lack of professional dedication and administrative incompetence -- these are the true reasons for Chinese soccer's decline," said Wang.
He said the CFA has always given priority to the national squad's training and competition at the expense of domestic league matches. In terms of youth training, there has also been shortsightedness aimed at quick results; as a result, compared with their contemporaries in Japan and South Korea, China's younger generation of soccer athletes are unable to master basic skills. Spoiled by high pay, club players have become greedy and some even bet on match results.
Fans complain about being treated unfairly and not getting their due in return for enthusiastic support -- it's even well nigh impossible for them to acquire an ace player's autograph.
Sponsors could spend tens of thousands of yuan a year on on-field advertisements, yet not receive an evaluation report of their campaign's effectiveness from match organizers at the end of the season. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in many of them investing their money elsewhere.
After 11 years, the clubs seem to still be only just learning -- a phenomenon unimaginable in other industries, Wang said. The domestic cell phone industry, which started a couple of years later, quickly formed effective administrative and operational models. By comparison, rigged games, bribery and drug problems have all demonstrated soccer clubs' poor management capabilities.
Wang said, "Chinese soccer has introduced foreign coaches and players, but not managerial and administrative personnel. In my opinion this is probably a big mistake."
(China.org.cn by Shao Da, January 19, 2005)
