Will the growth of the Indian Super league have a positive impact on the Indian National team?

Introduction:

India has the second largest population in the world, and if current trends continue they will overtake China and become the most populated country in the world. However their national football team is far from successful. According to the latest FIFA World rankings the Indian national football team is ranked 162^nd in the world.

The mission of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is “to engender an entertaining and high quality football league that engages hundreds of millions of fans, drives improvement in playing standards and delivers value for all partners.” In addition to this the vision of the AIFF is for “India to become a global football power and qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”

History of Indian football:

Football was bought to India through British regiments and missionaries, especially in the Calcutta region, in the 1870’s. From this time forth football quickly became a marker of nationalist identity and community against British imperialism.

India has previously qualified for a World Cup and this was the 1950 World Cup. However they didn’t participate. One particular theory suggests that they were not allowed to play barefoot, so India relinquished their position in the tournament. However, and possibly, a more adequate reason to why they didn’t participate was due to financial restraints and alongside this India prioritized the Olympic games in 1950 as they hosted this competition.

In 1996 the AIFF created the Indian National Football League (NFL). This was to be a semi professional league and they had signed up a ten-year broadcasting deal with Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV. This was worth $1million a year.

In 2006 this was changed to the I-League. The aim behind this was to improve standards and implement full professionalization of the game. Meaning an introduction of more competition, the I-League 2^nd division. The AIFF also signed a 10-year broadcasting agreement with Zee sports (an Indian broadcasting company). However in 2010 the AIFF terminated this contract with Zee sports (four years early) and sold full commercial rights (exclusive commercial rights to sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, video, franchising, and rights to create a new football league) to IMG (a global sports management company) for $105 million over fifteen years. However IMG continually struggled to sell these commercial rights. In the end they decided to create an MLS (Major League Soccer- USA) style, Indian Super League with eight franchises. Star Sports is a sports broadcasting which is huge in Asia and they bought 35% of the ISL for USD $300m million. This subsequently has solved the problem of selling broadcasting rights.

Indian Super League comparison with Cricket in India:

Cricket is seen as a religion in India, so does football really stand a chance? Cricket is very popular in the media, in advertising and most of India’s idols are from cricket.

When discussing a comparison between Cricket and Football, the following points are important. Firstly it cost $1.95Bn for the Indian Premier League (cricket and IPL) to be created. In addition to this the TV deal (for 10 years) for Sony Television and World Sport Group was $1Billion. The money mentioned in the previous section about football is much less than the money mentioned here in terms of the capital to create the IPL.

However it can be said that football is improving in its comparison with cricket and this is due to the ISL. The financial security offered by the league is essential to promoting football as a viable career option. The ISL today has 17 central sponsors. This kind of sponsor interest in football has never been seen in India before. This suggests that one, the football market is growing in India (and potentially challenging cricket), and two, football in India can be a serious occupation for Indian people. Furthermore the number of sponsors is ever increasing and this will of course lead to further positive viewership of the league.

League Structure:

India already had a football league structure in place (The I-League and I-League 2^nd division) and according to FIFA rules a country is not allowed more than one national league structure in a country. However FIFA does not ‘officially’ recognize the ISL as a national league. According to the AIFF president, FIFA gave India ‘special dispensation’ to start this tournament. The ISL was initially planned to start in January 2014, however due to complications such as the availability of players and readiness of the tournament, the start date had to be postponed for nine months.

With that clubs playing in the I-League (India’s recognized national football league) opposing the creation of a new league, it took IMG-R (IMG Reliance) a few months to finally get the required number of players for the tournament. Furthermore the I-League had its calendar delayed due to the introduction of the ISL. This has now meant that the I-League matches start in January and end in late may. This means that some matches will be played in the humid Indian summer. As well as this matches will have to be played in the afternoon due to most stadia not having the appropriate lighting facilities, these factors will have a huge negative impact on the I-League.

There are also concerns among followers of the I-League that with the marketing partners of the I-League; being IMG Reliance, who are also the organizers of the ISL there could be a probability of the sponsorships being directed over to the ISL. Therefore this would be another negative impact on the I-League. Furthermore the salaries offered by the I-League clubs are nowhere near the salaries offered by the ISL franchisees, and this could lead to the players not plying their trade in the I-League. This in turn will decrease the standards of the I-league as well as more revenues being re directed toward the ISL.

The ISL clubs don’t have any academies or a means within the club itself to develop youth, and this is with valid reason. They play for two months a year in a round robin style tournament with play offs, for the top teams in a winner takes all situation, which is good as it stops one side dominating. They do not need to risk playing young, untried and untested Indian players when they have a squad of experienced players and world famous players. In terms of the I-league as it is ‘more of a league’ all clubs have permanent and proper academies and also several prominent European clubs have recently established academies in India.

The Indian Super League:

The Indian Super League is an independent league and it is separate to the other professional football leagues in the country. It was described as being a football championship that will create and develop local talent while at the same time featuring world-renowned stars.

Negatives include, due to the lack of matches and the lack of participating teams there would be a struggle to keep, and sign good players, furthermore there is a lack of competitiveness especially as there is only one division. Another negative would be that it is a short tournament so how would players (Indian players) benefit from this and therefore how would the Indian national team improve.

There are currently eight franchises in the ISL, with each team (in accordance with the rules) contracting 14 Indian players each (minimum squad of 22 players). This takes the total number of Indian footballers in the league to 112. This gives the view that the ISL has the potential to be good for the Indian national team as a large number of the teams’ squad would be Indian.

Another good point about the ISL is the ticket prices for fans for matches. Tickets are priced as low as Rs150 ($2.37). Evidence shows that the ISL’s average attendance is 24,357, which surprisingly is only than the Bundesliga, the Premier League and La Liga. This suggests that the ISL is the fourth biggest league in the world. At the opening game of the ISL between Atlético de Kolkata and Mumbai City the attendance was a staggering 65,000. This match had an audience of 74.7 million people on television. However it is important to remain in context and in doing this, this statistic does not mean much. This is because of the number of clubs and therefore the number of matches played in the ISL are much less than compared to the Bundesliga and the other leagues mentioned.

On the most part the ISL seems to be a positive creation, however the league needs to ensure match tickets remain affordable to fans, the game remains clear and transparent, and they continue to help develop grassroots football.

Industry growing – Famous players are moving to the Indian Super League:

The ISL has been able to attract some big footballing names in its first two seasons. Very few people believed football in India would have imagined seeing the likes of Marco Materazzi, Nicolas Anelka, Roberto Carlos and Lucio play for Indian clubs. In addition it is not only players like these going to India, very reputable coaches are going over to India and providing clubs with their experience and knowledge. It must be very good for young Indian footballers to train alongside successful footballers and be educated by famous coaches. This can only benefit young Indian players and hopefully provide India with some special talent.

Recent developments in Indian football:

The ISL has recently arranged a strategic partnership with the English premier league. It has been said that the aim of this deal is to help develop the ISL. Furthermore the partnership between these two organizations would see them work closely and share knowledge in various key areas, such as “player development, refereeing, marketing and promotion”. This provides further evidence that India is looking to improve football as a whole in the country and this move can potentially have a positive impact on the national team.

Another recent development in the Indian football industry is that FIFA had agreed a four-year plan with the AIFF. The aim of this partnership is to help aid the development of football in India. However in this deal FIFA want the I-league to retain the number one league status in India in the wake of the launch of the Indian Super League.

It has been said that merging the ISL and the I-league would be good for the sport and it would be the most appropriate way of aiding the potential success of the Indian national team in future years. Whatever happens remains to be seen, but I can see the two leagues merging and therefore creating a similar football league structure to many European countries.

Conclusion:

As has been discussed there are many different variables that can have an impact on the success of the Indian National team. The growth of the Indian Super League has a huge potential to have a positive impact on the national team, however this may not be seen for at least five to ten years. Recommendations are discussed below to improve the Indian National team. I believe that if the recommendations are put into place then certainly within ten years India will be starting to compete at a much higher level than they currently do.

Recommendations:

First on foremost it would be recommended to merge the two league structures (the I-league and the ISL) into one and have at least two divisions to allow promotion and relegation. Then through this ensure each club has its own academies so it can develop young Indian talent. Although, it is important to consider that this move will be difficult, because of the discussions, which would lead to which teams go into the first or second division.

Secondly it is recommended that the AIFF build Indian football schools and populate them with experienced professional coaches who have the knowledge and the know how to produce the future football stars for India.

Furthermore it would be recommended to make football compulsory in schools, to ensure children are doing activity, not just to be healthy, but to improve their football skills. Therefore improving their chances to be chosen to go to a football school (mentioned above).

Lastly it would be recommended to continue to sign some of the world’s most renowned footballers as well as employing highly respected coaches and mangers. This would not only mean an increase in attendance but also each club’s players would be involved in training sessions of the highest caliber that would improve them as professionals.

 

 

 

Italian Football and the Calciopoli scandal of 2006

This is a picture of the Juventus CEO (Antonio Giraudo) and the Juventus Director of football (Luciano Moggi) at the time of the Calciopoli scandal

Serie A was one of the top leagues in the world. It was a league where the world’s top players regularly played as well as the league where top managers were based. It was a league that was engaged with, by spectators from all over the world.

Unfortunately due to corruption, fan violence and unsafe stadiums the Italian league is no longer the superpower it used to be.

Back to when match fixing started:

The history of match fixing in Italy dates back to the 1960s when Angelo Moratti, became the president of Inter Milan in 1955. It was Moratti’s aim to make Inter Milan one of the best teams in Europe. In the 1960’s Moratti’s aim became true, Inter Milan became one of the best teams in Europe. However a journalist conducted detailed research and exposed ‘behind the scenes’ stories of this Inter Milan team. The results were very interesting indeed. It showed that matches were fixed, and Angelo Moratti himself was among those heavily involved. Inter Milan’s European Cup successes were then found to be a result of bribery and corruption.

 

The Calciopoli Scandal in 2006: What was it?

The 2006 Italian match fixing scandal, or Calciopoli as it was known had a significant impact on Italian football. It was going on for two years before things began to unravel. In 2006 Juventus were investigated following doping allegations. As a result of this, transcripts between Juventus Director of football Luciano Moggi, Juventus CEO Antonio Giraudo and the league’s referee selector Pierluigi Pairetto were discovered which showed that Luciano Moggi was persuading Pierluigi Pairetto to appoint ‘Juventus-friendly’ referees for games involving his team. As well as Juventus; AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina were accused of rigging games by selecting favourable referees. The scandal was fully uncovered when the transcripts of telephone conversations showcased the network of relations between team officials and the referee organizations.

What were the punishments?

Luciano Moggi received a life ban from football while Antonio Giraudo was sentenced to a three-year jail term along with a five-year ban from football and a fine of €20,000. Juventus were stripped of their two league titles of 2005 and 2006 along with suffering relegation to Serie B and being given a 9-point deduction. Lazio, AC Milan, Reggina and Fiorentina were also handed deductions of 3, 8, 11 and 15 points respectively. Furthermore Juventus, Fiorentina and Milan were thrown out of the Champions League for the 2006-2007 season. In addition Lazio were not allowed to take part in the 2006-2007 Uefa Cup.

How has this affected Italian Football?

Attendances:

The issue of attendances starts with the 1990 Italia World Cup. Italian clubs are still struggling with the debt left behind from the stadium renovation programme. The overall cost of bringing the stadiums up to standard was, rather alarmingly 84% over budget meaning there is high rent on the stadiums (which is paid to local councils). This means that some clubs had to have higher ticket pricing, which led to lower attendances as fans don’t want to pay more to see less competitive matches. In addition to this, fans don’t want to go to teams who were involved in the match fixing scandal, even if it was their own team.

The low matchday revenues account for the fact that most of the clubs in Serie A play in outdated stadiums with only the exception of Juventus.

In 2012 Deloitte published a report, which indicated a 3% decline, equivalent to 6m euros in the matchday revenues of Serie A clubs along with a 7% fall in the average league match attendances. AC Milan and Inter Milan can only manage an attendance of 52.4% and 57.4% in their 79,343 capacity stadium, according to reports from 2013-14.

As previously mentioned, Juventus have better facilities than all clubs; and filled nearly 96% of their stadium in their home matches.

Players:

Unfortunately the Calciopoli scandal marked the beginning of the decline of Serie A. Juventus saw a mass exodus of their star players, as well as this 30 players who participated in the 2006 World Cup moved from Serie A to go to Europe’s other top leagues.

It can be said that the level of corruption, created a block for many foreign players who opted against moving to Italy to play football. Also, players deemed it unsafe for them and their families. Furthermore wages are higher in other leagues and other leagues in Europe are more competitive and can be seen as safer.

Even the World Cup win of 2006 was unable to change the scenario of domestic football. In 2009 Serie A lost two of Europe’s biggest superstars, Kaka and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The already declining state of the league lost its glamour. Whereas the Spanish league (where Kaka and Ibrahimovic went) was becoming what Serie A was, a top league in Europe.

In conclusion old and unsafe stadiums, uncontrollable fan groups who have an influence, and corruption at various levels of Italian football, has led to a decline of revenue and international relevance. The league is unable to attract and even afford top players anymore. This affects the growth and development of young players meaning it may be hard to produce Italy’s next football stars in this football environment.

What can be done to improve Italian football?

In order to improve the Italian league and at the same time the Italian national team some changes can be made including:

1. Look into the idea of creating ‘B teams’. Similar to the way it happens in Spain. This would be good for Italian player youth development. This is because they will be able to play at a competitive level and therefore gain experience.
2. Increasing security at stadiums to try to decrease the threat of fan violence and hooliganism.
3. Building new stadiums or at least strengthening the infrastructure of current stadia to create a feeling of safety for fans. Currently many stadiums are owned by the government which means these teams lack a huge asset (The stadia) as they don’t own the stadium. This means it is difficult to gain foreign investment. Therefore building new stadiums will increase the chances of this. Furthermore, the current stadia are old and out of date meaning that Italian clubs are missing out on more potential revenue streams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish Football: The Passolig

Turkish Football:

 This is a picture from the Galatasaray v Trabzonspor match last season. This is a match that has a lot of rivalry. Look at the amount of empty seats.

Government involvement in football:

There are two main points about government involvement in Turkish football. The first being the fact that the government controlled the TFF (Turkish Football Federation) until 1992. This shows late development into interdependence compared to other European countries. The second being the corruption scandals in 2011, which certainly tarnished an already unstable league.

In addition to this, the government still has links with the TFF, appointing federation members and using its financial leverage to support Turkish football clubs. These points are followed by the introduction of the Passolig system in the 2014/2015 Season.

What is the Passolig System?

The Passolig is a mandatory fan ID Card. To start off with, it was as an electronic card which was meant to only keep the ID number of the citizen. However this was not the case.

‘Passolig’ is a trademark that was owned by the bank that won the contract for it. This bank is called Aktifbank. Aktifbank is a state-owned bank, with obvious links to the government and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. This is because the CEO of Aktifbank, until recently, was the son-in-law of Tayyip Erdogan.

Unfortunately fans had to pass over much more information than just their ID numbers. They had to provide detailed information such as family status, residence and occupation as well as much more. In addition they needed to provide a personal photo and fans were told not only to pay for the match tickets but for the Passolig card (to the bank). Rather interestingly the bank was newly established with very few clients. Therefore we could say that due to the links between government and Aktifbank that the Passolig card was not just for the government for monitoring purposes but also for this state-owned bank to get new clientele.

In addition to this, high-tech security cameras were installed in all stadia and high tech electronic identification systems (for face and Identification information detection) were added to the entry gates of the stadia and were introduced in the top two divisions of the professional Turkish football league.

Why was the Passolig System introduced?

In 2013 there were anti-government protests from large sections of society. This included football fans, most of which are from the “ultra” sections of club support. The ultras of the three Istanbul clubs (Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş) were at the forefront of the demonstrations against the government. The supporters of these three clubs have been at odds with each other since the 1980’s, so it was incredible to see them working together for a cause greater than football. The protests were intensified when police removed environmental protesters from Gezi Park (one of the last remaining ‘green spaces’ in the capital which the government planned to build a shopping centre on). When supporters of other clubs dispersed, one group of ultra fans stayed and continued the protests. This group was called the Carsi fan group. The leaders of this group were accused of inciting people to stage violent protests against the government. In the years since the protest, their leaders have been caught and charged with attempting to overthrow the government. Following these protests the Passolig system was introduced.

The purpose of the system is to prevent unwanted incidents. These include pitch invasions by fans and hooliganism (it could be said this is part of Turkish fan culture). Therefore the plan was that the government could sanction individual fans instead of the clubs themselves. This would have been a good idea, due to the clubs getting large fines and also in some cases stadium bans (in European competitions as well), especially for the three Istanbul clubs.

It could be said that another reason Erdogan wanted to introduce these rules is because he knows football fans are a threat to his reign as Prime minister. So introducing these high-tech cameras and Passolig would ensure he could see who was leading these chants and can deal with them in an appropriate manner.

The impact of the Passolig:

The fans passion for football helped them to create amazing atmospheres in all stadiums in Turkey, especially the three clubs who are located in Istanbul. Their teams always played in front of loud, passionate and sometimes hostile atmospheres. Watching a football match in Istanbul is something every football fan should experience in their lifetime. However, due to the introduction of the Passolig system, these types of atmospheres are hardly seen anymore. Meaning this system has ripped away the love for the Turkish game, as fans that do go to games know they don’t have the freedom they once had.

The criticism of the system comes in terms of surveillance and also freedom of expression. The threat of surveillance is one of the biggest criticisms of the system.  This is because signing up to the system requires a fan to submit personal information, with one question being which team the fan supports.  Once registered, the person can only get tickets for games involving their supported club and these tickets are not transferable, and friends cannot go to games unless they are also signed up for the system. In addition there is no fan anonymity anymore as every seat in the stadium is associated with an Identification number. People in Turkey have used the stadiums as an outlet to exercise freedom and ultimately to show their passion and love for their team. What the government has introduced has led to fans having little or no anonymity. Security cameras are already known to fans inside the stadium, however many believe the introduction of more high-tech cameras will be used to identify fans that the government could potentially target.

Attendances have suffered because of the Passolig.  Through various sources, many teams average less than 10,000 per home game, and even the bigger teams struggle to beat this figure as well. This can be especially seen by a drop in attendances (during the season of Passolig implementation, 2014-2015) of, on average, 50% and some top division clubs even lost up to 90% of their crowd.

With the declining attendances, Turkish football matches do not seem to have the appeal they once had.  With people frustrated by Passolig for various reasons, it has made even the most die-hard fans watch the game on television and even avoid the stadiums altogether. As well as this, it doesn’t help that ticket prices through the Passolig are more expensive than they were before the system was introduced. This is another factor to fans not going to games.

Yildiz Holding is one of the largest sport sponsors in Turkey. To prove this, over the last ten years they have invested upward of £200m in Turkish football. Unfortunately they recently announced that they are going to withdraw their sponsorship. They see violence, fighting and tension as well as the new and very much debated e-ticketing system (Passolig) as reasons. This again has weakened the strength of Turkish football in Europe.

So this means that the Passolig has affected both the commercial and matchday revenues of the football clubs in the top two divisions of the Turkish league. It is amazing to see how clubs have survived this.

The fan protests have certainly been successful, especially as the lead up to both the June and November (2015) elections has seen huge debate over the system. Both opposition parties (to the government) had stated that they would terminate the system. From this, for the first time ever in political history, fans’ beliefs and what they wanted had appeared in government proposals.

As well as this, there are ongoing investigations in court looking into how unlawful the Passolig system is, especially in terms of human rights. In court, stands are usually un-moderated meaning anything can be said or shouted. Last year the Turkey Constitutional Court sided with the fans. However the Consumer Court had yet to give its final ruling, although this has changed in the last few weeks. Their ruling was to allow Passolig to function further, however they stated that there should be a limit to information that is collected and used. They also stated that there can be no sharing of the data with third parties, which runs along the decision of the Constitutional Court to some extent. However there is a difference in interpretation of the words, “Third Party”. The Consumer Court in Ankara says that Aktifbank is not a ‘third party’ as operator of a major database.

This difference in understanding is why the supporter federation Taraf-Der announced they would appeal the verdict of the Consumer Court, which furthers this already ongoing two-year conflict. It also means during this process attendances will continue to be low and tensions between fans and authorities will be ever-growing. Hopefully we can see this ruling in the near future in favour of the fans, because Turkish football is struggling and it needs its soul back, the fans.

Overall it can be said Passolig has further decreased the love for Turkish football. However, something needed to be introduced as clubs were getting fined domestically for their fans behaviour, and even worse, they were getting punishments including stadium bans in European competitions. The first stage of what the Passolig system was described as being, ie; just a card with fans ID numbers was a good idea. Meaning it would be easier for the authorities to ban individuals for poor and violent behaviour. However, the government shouldn’t have partnered with a bank, especially a newly formed bank, which has close links to the government, with the idea of increasing the banks’ clientele as well as monitoring each individual football fan from this. They shouldn’t have gained people’s personal information and used it for their own good as this is against people’s human rights as well as misleading them when signing up for the Passolig card. It feels as if Turkish football has had the soul ripped out of it, especially seeing all these empty seats at stadiums.

Something has to be done from both the government sides and in my opinion the fans sides, however it will be very hard to change the fans belief and their culture. It will be interesting what the ruling is after the Taraf-Der appeal.

Chinese Football: Is it sustainable?

I have found more than enough information to write a dissertation on this! Below are some points on China and the current state of football. Hopefully readers will create their own opinions from what they read, and maybe investigate further.

A reason to why the Chinese national team has struggled in recent years could be due to the property market. Property is one of the biggest markets in China, and 13 out of the 16 clubs are owned by property companies. It could be said that this industry grew because property companies built over fields and other possible spaces to play football. Therefore there was no space to play football. This leads to the fact that China hasn’t produced players for a considerable time. However as mentioned the new Government has plans to make Chinese football massive.

The league had been growing well similar to the MLS. However in 2002 there was a corruption scandal. Players had been given a maximum wage law, to stop them from becoming so-called “Idols” to Chinese population. This is because the Government wanted the next generation to be in Maths and especially Science. The impact of this law being introduced was negative. In 2002 players went to the black market to gain more money, which of course leads to corruption of matches. From this it has taken time to get the industry back onto its feet.

The industry has been going through the motions of development since 2011. In 2011 Guangzhou Evergrande made their first big statement of intent signing Dario Conca, who was the Brazilian player of the year at the time, followed by Marcelo Lippi as a coach. Lippi was the (first big) name that people were surprised about as he was a coach that was still very much in demand around the world.

Now we can continue to see this, players in their prime, playing at a high level are moving to China. This is different to the MLS (which is where players who are coming to the end of their career are going). Players are moving to China as they are being offered substantial amounts of money. In a recent transfer window Odion Ighalo (not a top quality player, but a good player nonetheless) was offered £300,000 a week to move to China. He decided to stay in the Premier League with Watford as he is fulfilling his dream.

Chelsea sold Ramires to Jiangsu Suning, Gervinho left Roma to join Hebei China Fortune, Freddy Guarin move to Shanghai Shenhua and Jackson Martínez completed a move to Guangzhou Evergrande for a fee in the region of €45 million from La Liga title challengers Atlético Madrid. These are all players that have come from playing at high levels. In addition to this Alex Teixeira, a target for Liverpool in the January transfer window moved to China for a fee of around €50 million, meaning that the Chinese transfer record was broken three times in ten days.

According to reports, Martinez will be earning around €12.5 million a year in net salary. This puts him in a bracket (almost) with Lionel Messi who is the best player in the world. Whereas players like Guarin and Ramires could be earning around €5-8 million a year. Which could be double what they were earning in Europe.

So where has all this money come from, and why is it all of a sudden being pumped into football?

The Government: The President (President Xi Jinping, pictured at the top) is a huge fan of football. He has three main aims. They are: To make the Chinese Super League the best in the World, to host the World Cup and therefore to win the World Cup.  The President is trying to make football sessions compulsory at School. He has built football schools. One of which is in Guangzhou Evergrande. A Sky Sports reporter recently called this school a “Football theme park”. Kids go to school in their sports clothes, they walk past a (15 times bigger) World cup trophy replica every day. As well as this there are statues of World Cup legends, Bobby Moore and Pele. In this school they have coaches from Real Madrid to help give their expertise. In addition the government wants the number of football academies should increase tenfold to 50,000 by 2025.

The government in China also really wants to invest in the entertainment industry. As it has been primarily a manufacturing based economy for a long time, but China has now developed this big middle class, who have a lot of disposable income, so to diversify the economy they’re investing in entertainment, and sport, predominately football. While economics is part of the reason, there may be a desire within the country to try to move up in the estimations of their neighbors and global partners, which can be achieved by highlighting the process of change that is currently taking place in football, in China. It makes clever economic sense to branch out into sports, especially football, as it has the best global appeal, every country in the world has a big interest in football.

Investors: There are a number of big Chinese enterprises, the majority of which are based in real estate, investing their cash in the sport. Could they be investing in football to look good, in the eyes of the Government. So when it comes to the next round of building contracts being given out they could have the first refusal.

While the national team has not yet seen any benefit of the sudden influx of cash, the footballing culture is slowly but surely changing, thanks to the success of Guangzhou Evergrande. They have won five league titles and two Asian Champions Leagues in recent years.

So where does China go from here?

There will be more big names signed however they are a long way off competing globally with the world’s biggest leagues.

The future for Chinese football has to be in developing their own talent, and plans are in place for this to happen. However they wont reap for rewards for a good 10-15 years.

Chinese companies have invested in Europe throughout 2015, football witnessed a series of European club acquisitions that included Dutch club ADO Den Haag, Sochaux of France and Spain’s Espanyol.

At the same time, one of China’s richest men, Wang Xianlin, chairman of property company Wanda Group, bought a 20 per cent stake in Atletico Madrid, while the China Media Capital (CMC) bought a 13 per cent stake in Manchester City. They need to ensure they continue this to strengthen their position in World Football.

Ensure this government stays in power for the long-term. This will allow them to implement their ideas on football. Making football prominent and compulsory at schools, and in grassroots level too. This will take major investment and by the looks of developments already, the Government is more than up to it. This will help China improve on a National team Level in the future also meaning more chance of a World cup and also being recognized as a top league around the world.

In addition to this, it is important to keep the club owners interested in investing into the league.

In my opinion the Chinese Super League is sustainable, however this depends on many variables. In terms of Chinese national success. This will happen, but again it will take at least 10 years.