Chinese football finances in spotlight as champions unravel Shanghai (AFP) – China’s Super League champions who nearly signed Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale are in disarray and fighting for their future, just three months after winning the domestic title for the first time.
Jiangsu FC, whose backers also own Italian giants and Serie A leaders Inter Milan, are unravelling amid widespread reports of financial problems and their depleted squad has not been told when pre-season training will resume.
The predicament of Jiangsu previously known as Jiangsu Suning has underlined the erratic nature of Chinese football and put its precarious finances back in the spotlight.
Bullish Leko lays down the gauntlet By SHI FUTIAN | China Daily | Updated: 2021-02-03 08:53 Share CLOSE Zhang Min, chairman of Shanghai SIPG, presents a jersey to Ivan Leko at a media conference on Monday. CHINA DAILY
Most Chinese fans had never even heard of Ivan Leko before he was appointed Shanghai SIPG s new head coach. However, what the Croatian lacks in profile, he certainly makes up for in confidence. Being better and better. That means today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow is better than today, the 42-year-old said at a media conference in Shanghai on Monday. I promise you, this year, you will see a team that will fight until the last minute, give everything they have on the pitch and has the objective to win. We have a lot of confidence that we will try everything to have a nice season.
Shanghai (AFP) – In January 2017 Brazil international Oscar moved from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG for an Asian-record 60 million euros, prompting a warning from Arsene Wenger that Chinese clubs were distorting the global transfer market.
But four years later it is a very different story after the Chinese Football Association imposed a series of measures to cool extravagant spending in the Chinese Super League, markedly dimming its star power.
Six months after Oscar’s arrival the CFA slapped a 100 percent tax on incoming foreigners, with the levy going to developing Chinese youth players.
Then last month the CFA said that overseas players cannot earn more than three million euros a year. Domestic players also saw their salaries capped.