The Oscar for footballing insanity goes to… China

In the past few weeks the football world has been buzzing with the news coming from China.
Football clubs from Beijing to Shanghai have been getting the cheque-book out big time, paying astronomical sums, both in transfer fees and wages, to lure high end international talent to the Chinese Super League.

Among the most notable transfers were those of Oscar from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG, and Carlos Tevez who signed for Shanghai Shenhua for a mind boggling £615,000 a week (£71.6m over 2 years!), while plenty more were signed before then, and are likely to be into the future.
This understandably has outraged football purists everywhere, who are furious at consortium's treating their beloved club as nothing more than an investment vehicle, where key players are sold, destabilising their team no end, as making a profit, NOT moulding a successful winning team, is the priority.

Photo from; Daily  Telegraph

The official reason for all these players coming to China is so the various clubs can harness the skills they possess, with Chinese players learning from what they do during matches and in training.
China has ambitions to host the World Cup within the next 15-20 years, and it’s officially stated aim is to become a footballing superpower by 2050.
China has qualified for the World Cup on one occasion, in 2002.
Some say it was a fluke, owing to the fact South Korea and Japan had automatically qualified due to being the hosts.
Both teams are well established talented football playing nations who perennially qualify for major continental competitions, such as the World Cup.
Since 2002 the Chinese National team have by and large vanished without a trace, when it comes results in international competitions.
In the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, China lie last in their group, with just 2 points after five matches, and are now out of the running for a place in the finals.
so the official rationale is that all these foreign imports will help China grow as a footballing nation, but critics beg to differ on that score.

 Photo from : Yu tang Sports

They say that filling teams with all these overseas players is limiting the game time and opportunities for Chinese players to hone and develop their skills.
Hence it is no surprise to see the national side performing so badly.

In the past a handful of Chinese players signed for international clubs in the likes of England and Germany, but privately, the accountants at these cubs would admit that it was purely for marketing purposes that they were bought.
Now the tide has turned, and it is players of international renown that are heading to China, thanks to the crazy wage packets they were being offered.
The fact that Tevez is on £615,000 a week when less than two hours drive from the Hongkou Stadium, there are thousands, if not millions of people earning less than $70 a week in sweatshop factories, is as cogent an argument for the overthrow of capitalism, as I've heard in some time.

It is obvious to me that the Chinese Football Association saw what was happening in the likes of the United States and Australia, how it improved their national teams, and thought "I'd like some of that too"
But there were positive steps both the A-League and the MLS took in order to ensure the progression of its domestic stock of players.
In both countries strict profits to wages ratio caps were put in place, with teams allowed to break the cap to sign just one 'marquee' foreign' player.
This meant Robbie Fowler playing for Queensland Fury and David Beckham togging out for Los Angeles Galaxy.
Thus the clubs had no choice but to sign up local talent, which saw many of them get lots of vital game time to develop into more skilful experiences players.
So it is no surprise that the U.S.A. have qualified for the World Cup ten times, and Australia have qualified for the last 3 World Cups -appearing in four in total - and are currently well in contention to be on the plane to Russia in 2018.

China Manager Marcello Lippi. Photo from: South China Morning Post

Amidst my angry eye rubbing every time I hear of another ludicrous transfer completed by a Chinese team, I am left to wonder - What on earth are FIFA doing about it?
Granted it's not just Chinese football that are to blame.
We have seen how the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid etc have distorted things in their own leagues, as the unlimited cash piles of their owners, allows them to outspend, and thus outperform their domestic rivals, season after season.  
The playing field has never been more uneven.
I was delighted when UEFA announced strict income to spending ratios for clubs in Europe, as it would give clubs from smaller nations such as the Republic of Ireland, Slovakia and so forth a better chance to make inroads in European competitions.
Whilst what was finally enacted is far better than nothing, it is sadly a much weaker, watered down version of what had initially been envisaged, and has more holes in it than a moth ridden jumper.

We have seen what happened in Formula One when 2-3 teams dominated proceedings for many years, leaving the other teams with literally no chance of getting anywhere near to winning the drivers or constructors championships.
People have turned off the sport in their droves, as the monotony and predictability of races killed completely the buzz they used to get from it.
In the case of football, I don't see people turning away from the sport per se; What I do see  happening, and fear it will increase unabated, is football fans deserting teams in their own leagues, to solely support Liverpool or Bayern Munich, and the like.

So I think it is long past time that F.I.F.A. introduced a earnings to ratio caps for football clubs across the board.
I also think ticket prices should be regulated too.
It's simply not on that a Cologne fan in Germany can watch his football team in a similar seat in the stadium as his English Premiership supporting compatriot would be sitting in, but, his ticket would cost up to 60% less. 

Photo from: Japan Times

Thus the likes of Chinese or Brazilian clubs going millions into the red due to gross overspending could be halted, and the playing field levelled out a lot more, making league competitions far more exciting and nailbiting.
(And on a related note, with the lowering of the skyrocketing players wages, maybe the clubs owners can actually use the money to raise the wages of their workers, who in turn might now be able to afford to go to matches?)
While I would love to see quotas on foreign players - as the English F.A. had in place for many years - brought back, I know this would be next to impossible to enforce due to employment laws in many countries.
Having such a cap on spending would inevitably lead to clubs having to nurture new talent in order to keep the books balanced, and ensure their teams can still play in European competition.
It would also make redundant the reason so many clubs are charging shocking prices for tickets - an enforced slashing of the clubs wage bill, would give good grounds for the ticket prices to be lowered too.

Photo from: Daily Squat

Bohemian FC v BATE Borisov. Phtoto from: Newstalk

So come on F.I.F.A, let's make things fairer all round, lets root out the greed and corruption in or beloved game, and re-ignite the genuine glory days of the past.
So a Bohemians versus Borisov BATE Champions League final sometime in the future; Dare I dream?