At last, China´s football plans make sense - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

For long football lover Rowans Simons, author of Bamboo Goalposts: One Man's Quest to Teach the People's Republic of China to Love Football dismissed the many plans to reform football in China. But even he got convinced by the latest roadmap to reform, he tells Channel News Asia.

Channel News Asia:

The roadmap was passed by the central reform group headed by President Xi Jinping, who is a football fan. 

“That makes sense, literally the first time that a long term plan that sees football becoming part of society and something enjoyed by millions of kids before we even dream about winning a World Cup,” said Rowan Simons, Chairman of China ClubFootball. “And certainly, if the plan is followed, and that’s still a big question, it’s a new dawn for Chinese football.” 

In 2011, President Xi expressed his hope that China would one day host the World Cup and win the title. However, it China’s national team currently ranks 82nd in the world and has only ever qualified for the World Cup once - in 2002. 

“To win the World Cup is a very, if not the hardest sporting achievement, and there are very, very few countries that have ever won the World Cup, including some amazing football nations,” said Simons. “And winning the World Cup, it is a distant dream, and that’s where it should remain.” 

Still, football continues to gain in popularity in China. In eastern Beijing, some parents pay almost US$20 (S$27) an hour for their children to learn the sport.

More in Channel News Asia.

Rowan Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Chinese football needs youth, no foreign players or coaches - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

Alibaba´s purchase of Guangdong´s Evergrande has put football again on the agenda. Football expert Rowan Simons tells the Economist China´s football needs to spend more on its youth in stead of buying foreign players and coaches. Evergrande did so already.

The Economist:

Rowan Simons, the author of “Bamboo Goalposts”, believes Chinese football would benefit more if the money shelled out for foreign coaches and players was spent on helping young Chinese players get really good. Evergrande has already made a big investment in this area. The club has built an enormous football academy in the southern province of Guangdong that students compare to Hogwarts, the school in the Harry Potter novels. With 2,300 students and 50 football pitches, it is China’s largest such institution, and perhaps the biggest in the world.

When the school opened in 2012 Xu Jiayin, the billionaire head of Evergrande, said, “Our long-term strategy is to use teenagers to turn Evergrande into a team of only domestic players in eight to ten years, making them stars in China, Asia and the world.” At least one other club has followed Evergrande’s lead, opening up a smaller school. Others are likely to do so if the academies are a success. The CFA has also hired Mr Beckham to promote the game to children and sell Chinese football to the rest of the world. Until the sport finds its version of Mr Yao, he’ll have to do.

More in the Economist.

Rowan Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

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Vanity projects in China's soccer - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

Nicholas Anelka, Nigerian Ayegbeni Yakubu and  Didier Drogba are a few of the big names picked up by China's soccer clubs. But it does not mean all is well, says soccer analyst Rowan Simons to AFP, who believe the sport need thorough reforms rather than big names.

AFP:

But football analysts and players with experience in both the Chinese and English leagues say the big spending amounts to little more than the vanity projects of club owners who should instead be pouring cash into grassroots development. 

"The spending is ego-fuelled craziness coming from these big owners, which is not sustainable and will end in disaster in the long run," Rowan Simons, a prominent Beijing-based commentator on Chinese football, told AFP. 

"The level of investment required to bring Drogba and Anelka is totally out of sync with the scale of football. "When a single player's salary is several times the entire revenue of the club in a year, I think it is fairly obvious that we have gone the wrong way in one direction."

More at AFP

Rowan Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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