The Ping Ping Chinese Football Association Super League, that is, China's first division soccer league, began play on Friday with 16 teams playing 30 games from now until December.
China wants to be a powerhouse in this sport. This country has made some efforts to be recognized in world soccer.
In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a state plan for China to host the 2030 World Cup and win the World Cup before the end of the 21st century. And he also has taken selfies with players like Sergio Aguero.
To compensate for the deficiencies of the Chinese team sports, sports executives in China have developed initiatives such as the Wanda Project, which sends children to train in Spanish football clubs' academies.
Chinese football clubs are also using money. Lots of it. This offseason, they spent more than $250 million on 36 players from around the world.
Those $250 million the Chinese soccer teams owners have invested is a bigger amount than what Premier League ($181 million) and La Liga ($62 million), spent combined during the winter transfer window. Chinese teams usually have big sponsors behind them.
Probably the biggest star brought to China this winter is forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, who played with Argentina in the Brazil 2014 World Cup. He went from Paris Saint-Germain to newly promoted Hebei China Fortune. He will earn $20 million this season.
But who are these big signings, besides Lavezzi? None is a true superstar. For example, Alex Teixeira, who has not even debuted with Brazil national team, played for Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk until Jiangsu Suning paid $56 million for his signature.
Colombian striker Jackson Martinez cost $47 million to Guangzhou Evergrande, a team that has won five Chinese League championships.
Two other Colombians also arrived to China. They are Fredy Guarin, a former Inter Milan who cost $14 million, and forward Fredy Montero, a former Sporting Lisbon player who cost $6 million.
From Chelsea came defensive midfielder Ramires, a Brazilian player whose transfer cost $31 million, and Ivorian Gervinho, a player who left Roma because he was attracted to China for $20 million.
The Ping Ping Super League has a difference with other leagues in the world: it is not bringing in 40-year-old players who are living the last moments of their careers. The average age of the 36 foreigners who have arrived is 27.5 years old.
The strategy in China is based on detecting players who were unhappy or underused in their current clubs or teams that urgently needed cash, like Corinthians in Brazil, who sold in a single transaction three players for $20 million.
With these exorbitant amounts, the Chinese League is subsidizing the negative implications of going to play China. For example, the low country level in the world FIFA ranking (93).
Some Chinese soccer weaknesses are the lack of worldwide broadcasting and geographical remoteness. When a footballer plays so far away they have to travel endless trips to participate with the national team and sometimes he can be forgotten by the national team manager.
The player profile that is sought in China is more or less established: attacking midfielders or forwards coming from South America or Africa. They look at Balkan, Scandinavian or Australian central defenders or defensive midfielders. Virtues like speed, physical stature, and emotional stability are favored.
According to Colombian soccer player Carmelo Valencia, Jackson Martínez's cousin, with extensive experience in China, "it is widely used the aerial game and Chinese players don’t are afraid of using their whole body to stop rivals”. Some say Chinese soccer looks like Portuguese soccer, both are fast and aggressive.
A curiosity is that Chinese teams never hire foreign goalkeepers. Within its still limited conception of football in China it is still considered more important to avoid goals than to score them. They consider goalkeepers as the great heroes of the matches so they reserve that role for homeboys.
Perhaps more impressive than new players are some of the coaches working already in China. Two former coaches of Brazil, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Mario Menezes, are there, plus Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Alberto Zaccheroni.
“In the 2015 season, my team home games were sold out three or four days before the kickoff. We always played in front of 40,000 people at home. Those crowds are another motivation. I like it here," forward Mario Rondon, who will play his second season with Shijiazhuang Yongchang said in an interview with a Venezuelan radio station.
Rondón added, "tactically, Chinese players are not, I say, very good. But with all these foreign first level coaches they will perform better sooner than later”.
