Five things you do not know about the Chinese Super League
By FF Titan
You may have read about the multi-million dollar transfers; you may know the depth of the talent pool in the Chinese Super League, but do you know the league itself? We reckon you do not know these five facts about the Chinese Super League!
There is a Strong Sense of Corporate Investment
Every club in the Chinese Super League is financially backed by a Chinese company (in one way or another) and this is reflected in their team names. Take the title-holder Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC for example – Guangzhou is the city where the club is based, while Evergrande (a real estate company) and Taobao (website under Alibaba.com) are the two corporates backing the club.
Hulk’s new club, Shanghai SIPG, is of course backed the Shanghai International Port Group – the largest port operator in China.
Name Changes of Clubs are (way too) common
… and because of this, club names changes way to often for the liking of traditional football fans. Whilst a club like Liverpool FC has been known but the same name since its founding in 1892, a typical Chinese club undergo a name (and crest) change every 2-3 years as they key sponsors come and go. Take mid-table side Chongqing Lifan F.C. for example. The club, currently based in the city of Chongqing, was formed in 1995 and this is a short history of their club name:
1995 : Qianwei (Vanguard) Wuhan [Wuhan is another city]
1995 : Qianwei (Vanguard) FC
1996–98 : Qianwei (Vanguard) Huandao
1999–00 : Chongqing Longxin [Move to the city of Chongqing]
2000–02 : Chongqing Lifan
2003 : Chongqing Lifan Xinganjue
2004 : Chongqing Qiche
2005–present : Chongqing Lifan
The clubs are not allowed to sign foreign goalkeepers
Since 2001, clubs have not been allowed to sign foreign goalkeepers. The official stance from the Chinese FA is that this rule allows clubs to develop local goalkeeping talents, which sounds kind of weird if you believe that every position is equally important in a football team of eleven.
So technically, it makes more sense to play in goal for kids coming out of the Chinese Youth system, since they do not need to compete against world-class foreign players to get into the starting XIs of the Chinese Super League teams.
The foreign player quota is not straight-forward
On paper, all Chinese Super League clubs are allowed to sign five foreign players but in reality it is not as plain as that. For one, one out of the five foreign players must come from a country that is registered with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Therefore, players from Japan, South Korea and even Australia fit these criteria whilst players from Kazakhstan and Israel do not.
Next, only four foreign players are allowed on the pitch at any one time, including the player from AFC. Therefore, the fifth foreign player can be named as a substitute but can only go onto the field if he substitutes another foreign player.
Next, there is the political element of what is termed as “foreign”. Prior to 2016, all players from Hong Kong, Macau and the Republic of Taiwan were deemed as “native” players in the Chinese Super League. Hopefully, this clears up any tinge of political elements.
CSL is the sixth most attended football league in the world
In terms of attendance, the CSL ranks sixth world-wide over the 2015-16 period, with an average attendance of 22,193. This number outranks that of Major League Soccer (MLS), the Argentine First Division and France’s Ligue 1. Title holder Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC attracts 45,000 to their home games on the average, on par with a club like Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC in the Premier League.
And of course, the attendance figures for the CSL have been on a rapid rise. Since 2004, the figures have grown two-fold. European and American football leagues simply do not have the capacity to see such growth in figures.
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