By Samindra Kunti
February 26 – The Chinese Football Association (CFA) will have more decision-making latitude as the government-run Chinese Football Administrative Center has been removed from the Chinese football structure in a sweeping move to reform the game in China.
Earlier this week China took another unprecedented step in bolstering its football. The government separated the Chinese Football Administrative Center, which virtually runs the game in the country, from the CFA. In turn, the CFA will gain more independence and power in setting its own policies.
The CFA said they will enjoy autonomy in personnel management, pay rate setting, foreign visits, finance, marketing and selection of national team coaches, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Under Chinese president Xi Jinping the dynamics of Chinese football have changed. Xi has a desire to propel China on to football’s world stage. The president is a self-declared football fan – with Manchester United his favourite European club. In 1983, he attended a friendly between China and Watford in Shanghai.
The London club’s comfortable 5-1 victory must have been traumatic for Xi: in 2011 he proposed a goal-orientated vision for his country. The Chinese president listed three ambitions, all football-related: to qualify for the World Cup, to host international football’s biggest jamboree and, ultimately, to win it.
In January Chinese football flexed its muscles. Jackson Martinez, Ramires, Elkeson, Gervinho and a swathe of European-based stars completed high-profile moves to inject the Chinese Super League (CSL) with star ethos and quality. The Chinese transfer dealings culminated in Jiangsu Suning paying Shakhtar Donetsk €50 million for Brazilian Alex Teixeira.
At this rate, China will become the biggest non-European league, overtaking the Major League Soccer, with healthy average attendances of 22,000 and a television rights deal package worth £850 million over the next five seasons.
The CSL may form the basis for a stronger national team, together with a grassroots movement. By 2017, about 20,000 football-themed schools will be opened with the aim of educating and producing more than 100,000 players.
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