Chiyna!

[Dirty Ewok]

Give it time. I think it's worth keeping an eye on. The market potential is so huge....

Huge but given their rules (which of course can change) their squads are actually much more limited than Europe.

Chinese teams can have 5 foreign players of which 1 has to be from a nation in Asia. All the remaining players are expected to be from China.

I think everything that is going on in China is very interesting but despite the money there are still issues. Keep in mind the issues both Drogba and Anelka had with their pay when they were over there. China is going to be a completely different environment from anything any of these players have experienced before and my guess is that a few will not enjoy it.What i think will be really interesting is how many of this current wave of players heading to China stick around for multiple years.

I think it will be interesting to see how China develops long term, they are spending money to build up the academies and have set fairly reasonable goals from the sound of it. They seem to raise their profile in Asia and become more significant in the AFC (realistic and plausible but they are still trialling Korea and Japan by a bit), they want to improve their domestic players (not a quick task but not a huge reach), they want to host a WC (would think China could make a better pitch than Qatar and they proved they could put on a show with the Olympics), they want to get more people paying attention to their league (they have 1.3 Billion people so that is doable). If they keep the goals fairly reasonable they could conceivably reach them.

 

[thinktank]

Huge but given their rules (which of course can change) their squads are actually much more limited than Europe.

Chinese teams can have 5 foreign players of which 1 has to be from a nation in Asia. All the remaining players are expected to be from China.

I think everything that is going on in China is very interesting but despite the money there are still issues. Keep in mind the issues both Drogba and Anelka had with their pay when they were over there. China is going to be a completely different environment from anything any of these players have experienced before and my guess is that a few will not enjoy it.What i think will be really interesting is how many of this current wave of players heading to China stick around for multiple years.

I think it will be interesting to see how China develops long term, they are spending money to build up the academies and have set fairly reasonable goals from the sound of it. They seem to raise their profile in Asia and become more significant in the AFC (realistic and plausible but they are still trialling Korea and Japan by a bit), they want to improve their domestic players (not a quick task but not a huge reach), they want to host a WC (would think China could make a better pitch than Qatar and they proved they could put on a show with the Olympics), they want to get more people paying attention to their league (they have 1.3 Billion people so that is doable). If they keep the goals fairly reasonable they could conceivably reach them.

Exactly.

I think it's fascinating to track an emerging football market with such huge potential.

Will also be interesting how long their foreign player policy remains intact in its current form.

 

[yankspurs]

Too bad the league has zero presence outside of 1/3 of the country so they get minimal revenue. It's being bankrolled by the gov't. Too bad their economy is going into the shitter and the corrupt socialists in there have no clue how the fuck to fix it.

Maybe Chinese football will be betternoff taking it much slower and the gov't can maybe develop the rest of its nation first and provide some infrastructure for them? Hell the country and its football will be better off.

 

[Hoops]

They are very good at making a defensive wall.

If they carry on spending im expecting fireworks

 

[Hoops]

Exactly.

I think it's fascinating to track an emerging football market with such huge potential.

Will also be interesting how long their foreign player policy remains intact in its current form.

I catually said when Man CIty group bought a team in Beijing, they are hedgin their bets in case the PL becomes irrelevant in the next twenty years. Im so bloody clever I tell thee.

 

[Sweech]

Anyone who thinks this is some kid of game changer because of money must have missed Qatar doing this awhile back and Russia before it.

All it ever amounts to is a drop in the ocean. another expensive retirement league.

Perhaps the MLS should be worried, that's about it.

 

[Hoops]

Anyone who thinks this is some kid of game changer because of money must have missed Qatar doing this awhile back and Russia before it.

All it ever amounts to is a drop in the ocean. another expensive retirement league.

Perhaps the MLS should be worried, that's about it.

You are entitled to your opinion but we are talking about the worlds secon largest economy. Not russia or the emirates. China can sustainably do it in the long run.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

People wonder where this money is coming from?

Beijing now has more billionaires than New York City

The Chinese capital added an incredible 32 billionaires to its ranks last year, bringing the city's total to 100, according to Hurun Report's latest global rich list. New York, which has led the ranking for years, has 95 billionaires.

"Despite its own slowdown and falling stock markets, China minted more new billionaires than any other country in the world last year, mainly on the back of new [share] listings," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of Hurun Report.

 

[Oscar22]

I know and agree with everyone's point about players going there just for the cash and how it sells out the dream of being a top football player and winning honours... But if someone's offering you 400k a week to look after you and your family, that must be bloody hard to say no to.. And before anyone starts, yes I'd love to be known as a good player and no it's not all about the money... But Christ imagine how stress free life becomes earning 400k a week

 

[aliyid]

imagine how stress free life becomes earning 400k a week

 

[whitechina]

They aren't exactly picking up any stars though are they? Although I concede it is still early days. They are getting solid but ageing players (Lavezzi, Ramires, Martinez) or players who have lost their way (Paulinho, Martinez in this category too) and they seem to be predominantly getting South Americans. For the considerable future I cant see it being anything but just a very nice retirement earner.

Huge but given their rules (which of course can change) their squads are actually much more limited than Europe.

Chinese teams can have 5 foreign players of which 1 has to be from a nation in Asia. All the remaining players are expected to be from China.

I think everything that is going on in China is very interesting but despite the money there are still issues. Keep in mind the issues both Drogba and Anelka had with their pay when they were over there. China is going to be a completely different environment from anything any of these players have experienced before and my guess is that a few will not enjoy it.What i think will be really interesting is how many of this current wave of players heading to China stick around for multiple years.

I think it will be interesting to see how China develops long term, they are spending money to build up the academies and have set fairly reasonable goals from the sound of it. They seem to raise their profile in Asia and become more significant in the AFC (realistic and plausible but they are still trialling Korea and Japan by a bit), they want to improve their domestic players (not a quick task but not a huge reach), they want to host a WC (would think China could make a better pitch than Qatar and they proved they could put on a show with the Olympics), they want to get more people paying attention to their league (they have 1.3 Billion people so that is doable). If they keep the goals fairly reasonable they could conceivably reach them.

I've been in China for 11 years and my experience of many different people here is they want everything NOW, many achieve a small goal and then move onto something different. Life here can be very fast, but for the long term the culture doesn't really think that way. Forward planning is not something I have come across greatly; as most of the people I have met have poor planning skills and time management.
One of my favourite things I heard from another ex-pat was he as never met so many 'lazy workaholics'. Yes, many attend their offices for long hours; only to surf the net or play games!

 

[Tom Pops]

You are entitled to your opinion but we are talking about the worlds secon largest economy. Not russia or the emirates. China can sustainably do it in the long run.

The country with the largest economy in the world has been trying to build a league to compete with the European leagues for years now, and they haven't succeeded, so far at least.

The MLS has all the money in the world but right now it's a league where Bradley Wright-Philips is scoring for fun.

 

[donny1013]

Transfer deadline there today. Would expect Tiote and Cisse at Newcastle to be packing their bags.

 

[mattie g]

The country with the largest economy in the world has been trying to build a league to compete with the European leagues for years now, and they haven't succeeded, so far at least.

The MLS has all the money in the world but right now it's a league where Bradley Wright-Philips is scoring for fun.

MLS has a lot of money? Since when?

And MLS is only 20 years old. No one involved in MLS has ever expected it rival the biggest European leagues at this point. It's a long haul.