China: far away from the World Cup - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China imposed a 100% tax for transfers of foreign players to loss-making soccer clubs - in fact all. A desperate measure that shows China is very far away from playing, less alone winning the World Cup, as president Xi Jinping wants it, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons at Sky News.

Sky News:

China's president, Xi Jinping, a self-avowed football fan, has said his ambition is for the country to host - and ultimately win - the World Cup. 

But on current form, it would be a huge achievement just to qualify for it, with the national team currently languishing 82nd in the FIFA world rankings, below Benin and the Faroe Islands. 

Rowan Simons, who founded the Beijing grassroots network, Club Football, has been trying to build a football culture in the country for the last three decades. 

"China came to this very late," he said, "It started with a professional league, but it didn't do any of the development work that took over 100 years of building up a football culture, it still needs to do that. 

"China has to start the same way every other country did - and that's kids coming out to play, falling in love with the game, and then contributing to it by their participation throughout their lives."

More at Sky News.

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How new rules will kill soccer transfers to China - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China has been a financial paradise for many top European soccer players. But a new rule by the China Football Association, with a 100% tax on transfers by clubs who are losing money, might kill this track, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons to Tribal Football.

Tribal Football:

Rowan Simons, a writer on Chinese football, and also Chairman of China Club Football, the country's biggest grassroots football network, explains how the rule will work. "If implemented in it's current form and based on the fact that all of the Chinese clubs lose money, then all future imports of foreign players will be subject to the 100% tax. So, in effect doubling the cost of player transfers. " 

And the number's have been huge: So say with €60m with 100% tax, that becomes €120m. 

"This means, for example, the €60m Shanghai SIPG paid Chelsea for Oscar would in fact cost them – if they were in debt – €120m with the new rule in place. 

Footballers plying their trade in Europe have flocked to the Far East in recent years – and not only in the twilight of their careers, as the aforementioned Oscar can attest. 

According to Steve Price from The Guardian, the combination of just four transfers alone – Oscar, Carlos Tevez, Ramires and Jackson Martinez – cost a combined total of £175 million. 

As well as the European clubs being rewarded with hefty transfer fee's, so too are the players with astronomical wages, with players like Tevez set to make £64m over two years. However, that will all change soon according to Simons. " 

(The rule) changes the dynamics of the professional league here in all kinds of ways - certainly in terms of investors ability to attract top players. 

"I mean the sponsors, which have been attracted to the league because of the star players, the gate receipts which have been increasing, all can be impacted by this policy." 

The tax will come into effect on June 16 when the Super League's transfer window opens, which is two weeks before the European windows opens.

More at Tribal Football.

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The China Football Association is illegal under FIFA rules - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

Soccer in China is government-organized and that not only leads to a bad quality soccer, it is also illegal under the FIFA rules, writes soccer expert Rowan Simons at the New York Times. Rowan Simons is chairman of China ClubFootball FC, the first amateur football network in China with foreign investors, and the author of “Bamboo Goalposts.

 Rowan Simons

China is not at the World Cup and its women’s team is no longer a leading force for reasons of politics, economics, culture and education — all challenges we are trying to tackle with ClubFootball. 

Let’s talk politics. The Chinese Football Association is an illegal organization under Article 17 of FIFA’s constitution which demands independence from government. Yet government control of the C.F.A. is clearly laid out in China’s 1994 Sports Law. These mutually exclusive regulations pose significant concerns. 

This “top down” system has several fundamental flaws that ignore the long-term grassroots solutions required. Chinese sport still follows a Soviet model, placing children in elite schools (at their own expense!). Football is a mass participation sport in which the best players may not emerge until their later teens. The simple truth is that China needs a system of community-based clubs that are run by the people for the people.

Since the C.F.A. does not even have a department for amateur football, football must grow itself. With 100,000 supporters, 2,000 kids in after-school courses and 100 adult teams, this is exactly what ClubFootball is proving today in Beijing. If our small success (with no government funding) could be replicated in every large city, China could finally benefit from its one great football advantage — its people.

More at the New York Times.

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Why soccer in China will fail - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China´s soccer clubs have been spending unprecedented amounts of capital in buying foreign players and improving high-profile stadiums and other infrastructure, hoping to win the World Cup. But the basis is wrong, so the efforts will fail, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons to AFP,

AFP:

The world's most populous nation has 25 times more people than England, but lags far behind its 37,000 football clubs, says Rowan Simons, a football author and founder of a private football club in the capital. 

Without grassroots teams and a deep pool of players, he said, "It's irrelevant how much money the government puts into it -- football can never flourish unless people love it."

"In Chinese there's just no history of civic society, that's really at the heart of it," Simons told AFP. "That's why top-down national funding will never work."

More at AFP.

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Uphill battle for Xi´s soccer dream - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

Developer Reeze Fan of SoccerWorld tries to capitalize on president Xi Jinping´s dream to change China into a soccer nation by building recreational soccer complexes. But despite prominent support, Fan faces an uphill battle, warns soccer expert Rowan Simons in Bloomberg.

Bloomberg:

SoccerWorld contracts with local governments and the occasional shopping mall to replace old, poorly maintained municipal fields with the kind of recreational soccer complexes that are ubiquitous in the U.K., with locker rooms, concession stands and synthetic fields big enough for 7-a-side. 

Fan says SoccerWorld will double the number of centers it operates to 60 by the end of next year, and spend 500 million yuan ($74.8 million) by 2022 to increase that number to more than 150. Even with Xi’s support, he has an uphill climb, says Rowan Simons, the founder of amateur soccer club ChinaFootball FC, which trains 3,000 children. “Nobody plays at the levels and frequencies required to support dedicated centers,” he said. “It will be at least a generation before such services will be required on a mass level.”

More in Bloomberg.

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China´s failing soccer reform - Rowan Simons

Reforming Chinese soccer has been one of the pet projects of president Xi Jinping. But despite much political goodwill and millions moving ahead, results have been poor, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons in a wide-ranging interview with the South China Morning Post, looking at his grass-root experiences in Beijing.

The South China Morning Post:

The (Xi Jinping) plan was issued in 2014 and it’s been two years. Is such change really happening?

No. I haven’t seen any practical change.

The reform plan is a wonderful plan, a long-term plan which China needs. President Xi [Jinping] put reform of the FA at the very top of his agenda, but it’s also the hardest thing. 

What’s been stopping the reform? Why is the reform so difficult?

When I saw the president’s speech about the football reform, I thought he was asking China a much bigger question, about whether China, as a big society, can actually organise properly something as simple as football. If we can’t even organise football properly, how can we think about our civil society?

The big problem in China that sports tackles directly is corruption. Fair play is at the heart of sports. And it’s China’s problem.

These are principles and morals, such as respect for each other, respect for truth, respect for fair play, respect for meritocracy. These are all the things that China is missing so massively and what sports could bring about. 

What else in Chinese society or culture do you see as relevant to football development?

I see a middle-class has emerged, who are desperate for the type of experience and quality of life that comes in clubs, social groups and societies. That is also the basis of grass-roots football. 

Can a similar club model be copied to big cities like Shanghai, where the middle class has developed? Do you have such plan already?

Yes. Every single city should have network. But coaching capacity is a big problem.

We will start to move into different cities. But the truth is that after all this time, the Beijing market still has much room for growth. We are so far away in Beijing if China wants to have the same rate of participation. There is a long way to go. 

When will you regard yourself as being successful with the football club in China?

A popular term recently is social enterprise. We kind of see we would fit into this area.

We’d like to make money and we deserve it, and it is possible because it can be in any developed market with a middle class that seeks quality of life and pays for quality experiences.

But we absolutely also have an impact on society. We are building communities and friendships. Another thing I have seen in China is the stratification of society, with little mobility between the social levels. Is it possible for the taxi driver kid to meet the CEO kid in Chinese society? Sport provides that fair, level playing field.

The side product of my plan is many happy kids. I don’t know if there is going to be a national team player, that’s not our aim. But if you want a national team and use the current Soviet system, my way will work quicker.

More in the South China Morning Post.

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No Messi or Ronaldo for China soon - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

There is no shortage of ambition and money to put soccer on China´s agenda as the FIFA 2018 World Cup in South-Korea is on the horizon. But there is no quick fix to makes it into the world league fast, warns soccer expert Rowan Simons in the South China Morning Post.

The South China Morning Post:

Rowan Simons, author of Bamboo Goalposts and chairman of Beijing-based grassroots outfit China ClubFootball argues that China won’t have their own Messi or Ronaldo anytime soon.

“It is virtually impossible for a Chinese superstar to emerge in mainland China. First, over 99% of kids in China do not play football,” he said.

“From the less than 1% who even play the game, statistically 0% receive high quality coaching at the earliest ages.” 

That’s changing, in both terms of participation and coach education but there’s no shortcut for either. Simons goes further, though, suggesting that even with both in place the odds are small – an exceptional youngster would need to be spotted very early and quickly end up in a European academy for a chance to become world class.

Aside from the need for a truly world class player to drag the team forward, it has long been said that Chinese football needs a Yao Ming figure in order for the sport to really take hold among the general public. 

“Forget Yao Ming, a Chinese superstar footballer would be the biggest star ever in world sport,” says Simons. 

“China will go crazy and the pressure will be bigger than that faced by any athlete in history. The earning potential too.” 

It’s not glamorous but it will work in the long run. In the meantime, China should be bidding to host the World Cup if they really want to make sure of their second appearance.

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China´s soccer target is more than winning the World Cup - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

President Xi Jinping still wants China to win the World Cup by 2050, but fortunately, his 50-point soccer plans is about much more, tells soccer expert Rowan Simons to WorldCrunch."China's soccer leaders will be millions of people participating in the game because they enjoy it."

WorldCrunch:

Since the president announced his 50-point plan last year, there’s been a lot of talk about China looking to dominate world soccer — maybe even compete for the prized World Cup by 2050.

But Rowan Simons, Chairman of China Club Soccer, says the policy is much more than just that: "The 20,000 schools, host the World Cup. Win the World Cup. That's easy, isn't it? No," he quips. "I hope people can get that in to their heads that this is a historic epoch-making policy change in China that throws Soviet ideology on its head.... (it) frees a single sport from government control and says the people and experts should take control of it and build it." 

Indeed, the plan does call for separating the Chinese Soccer Association from the government. But contrary to popular belief, it isn't a blueprint for China to win the World Cup by 2050. 

Yet it does mention bidding to host the men's World Cup and for the men's team to become globally competitive. But Rowan says that is still not the main purpose. 

"It has always been the problem before that China wants to win the World Cup and it has to win the next World Cup in 4 years or 6 years or 8 years," Simons explains. "This is the first plan that says no we have a long-term 30-year journey toward even thinking about that as a result. And actually that wouldn't be the result we're looking for." 

Instead the "definition of success" for China's soccer leaders will be millions of people participating in the game because they enjoy it, Simons states.

More at WorldCrunch.

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China is overspending on soccer - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China has been spending too much money on soccer, especially on players and coaches, says soccer expert Rowan Simons to AFP. But there is no end in sight, and it is not helping soccer in China.

 AFP:

China’s big spend comes as the country tries to raise its football game to a level commensurate with its growing economic and military might. China lost all three of its World Cup matches in 2002, its only appearance, letting in nine goals and scoring none. 

“All this craze and investment has come with the appointment of a football-loving president,” Rowan Simons, an author and prominent commentator on Chinese football. 

“But the question is does this have long legs? Will it remain once he steps down, and will it actually promote the sport at home?”... 

Chinese business magnates openly acknowledge that their footballing investments also have political calculations. 

“In general there’s a feeling that the Chinese have been overpaying, especially in some of the player and coach acquisitions,” Simons said. 

But beyond the cash paid for the teams and players, Chinese firms are chasing prestige and visibility for their products.

More at AFP.

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Buying Inter Milan helps egos, not Chinese soccer - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

Retail giant Suning has bought a majority share of Italian soccer club Inter Milan. Soccer expert Rowan Simons suggests in Time that those high-profile purchases might help some egos, but is unlikely to boost soccer in China.

Time:

“For a brand like Sunning, there has to be a global branding angle,” says Rowan Simons, an expert on Chinese soccer and author of Bamboo Goalposts. “And there are definitely ego factors at play here, similar to the other billionaires from the Arab states, Russia or the U.S. that have made similar acquisitions.”... 

“There’s a growing feeling that these sorts of acquisitions actually do nothing to help Chinese football at all,” agrees Simons. “The problems are laid out very clearly in [Xi’s] plan and it begins with the grassroots.” 

China remains bereft of independent, amateur soccer clubs that foster young people enjoying the sport — an unfortunate legacy of the Chinese Communist Party’s aversion to any social enterprise outside its purview that may potentially challenge its dominion. “Any amount of investment at the elite level ultimately will not turn into a good China national team unless you have millions of kids out there playing for fun,” says Simons.

More in Time.

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Football is now solid on China´s agenda - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

President Xi Jinping´s love for football has put the sport solid on China´s political agenda. This year US$300 million was spend to buy European football players, all apart from the big names. China football expert Rowan Simons has for CNN a look at the way how the football happiness plan works.

Rowan Simons:

For many decades, football wasn't considered a career in China. Unless it was to be your profession, why waste time playing it? The selected few did play, relentlessly, until either rejected or forced to labor for match-throwing club owners.

Now it is springtime. Football has been rehabilitated by Xi and has become "voluntarily compulsory' -- known as "yiwu" -- both inside and outside schools across the nation.

Naturally, there is plenty of room for tangential translation and overzealous short term campaigns. Building pitches is considerably easier and quicker than building well-coached teams to play on them. One education bureau was even accused of showing its over-commitment by banning basketball and volleyball -- something that it denied. 

By definition, a presidential fast-track football revolution will last only as long as its maker. The clock is ticking and so far the Chinese FA has been unable to follow Xi's instructions to reform itself. This is his flagship policy. 

And once -- if -- the teams of superstars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can be tempted to sell their prize assets for bundles of cash, Chinese club owners will start looking at their expensive foreign stars whose salaries no longer impress the president. Of course, he may not be impressed already. He should say. 

For all the inefficient allocation of resources symbolized by the transfer window and all the uncoordinated construction of huge pitch complexes for phantom teams, this unprecedented momentum cannot help but move Chinese football in the right general direction. 

If nothing else, after 30 years of working hard, many millions of Chinese families are ready to spend some money having fun. Alongside cinemas and shopping, city stadiums and local parks should be full. 

As Xi well knows, China's transition to a happy modern society depends on it.

More at CNN.

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Clueless Chinese soccer clubs on a spending spree - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

The now-closed shopping spree for soccer players by Chinese clubs has taken the industry by surprise: over 40 players moved East in the past months. But China soccer expert Rowan Simons does not think this is necessarily a smart move, he tells the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail:

Late last year, state-backed investment firm China Media Capital was part of a consortium that bought a $400 million stake in Premier League giants Manchester City. 

The enthusiasm has driven the premium prices for talent, according to Rowan Simons, an author and prominent commentator on Chinese football. "The buying spree is spurred on by the wish to please the president, so money is no object", said Simons, adding that the country "is a naive new buyer in this very small market and is ill-equipped to negotiate effectively against the super-agents who wrote the book".

More in the Daily Mail.

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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.

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Soccer reform might work - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

After decades of failed reforms, China´s soccer sees now the largest push for change ever, triggered by soccer fan Xi Jinping. Soccer expert Rowan has some hope it might work, he tells Associated Press.

Associated Press:

Rowan Simons, head of China ClubFootball, an amateur soccer network in Beijing with 4,000 children, said the reform plan has the potential to be a major turning point if the government truly commits to the long-term process. 

"It changes what has been a fatal short-termism, leaders being appointed and requiring results in the few years they'll be there, and discounting any plans that take longer than that," he said. 

"Football reform has been tried many times in China, but nothing of this scale."

More at Associated Press.

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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.

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Beckham will not change Chinese football - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

British soccer legend David Beckham has started as an ambassador for scandal riddled Chinese football, but that will not be enough, tells soccer expert Rowan Simons in the South China Morning Post. "Not enough to wipe the ingrained cynicism in fans." 

The South China Morning Post:

Beckham's presence will not be enough to wipe the cynicism ingrained in fans, claimed Rowan Simons, who has spent two decades attempting to promote grass-roots football in China. 

"The appointment seems like a sweetener for the league's new sponsor, Samsung. I have been working in Chinese football for over 20 years and still cannot predict what ridiculous policy will be introduced next," he said. 

Simons, who wrote a book, Bamboo Goalposts, about his few triumphs and many failures, added: "What is more likely? That David Beckham will transform the image of Chinese football for the better or that Chinese football will transform the image of David Beckham for the worse? I know where my money lies and that is why his involvement is not likely to include anything original. His aversion to public speaking also makes him the perfect candidate." 

Many fans believe the CFA has taken the softest possible option and thrown money at Beckham to divert attention from their failings - money which Simons said could be better spent on grass-roots development. 

Estimates of Beckham's fee have ranged from £1.7 million (HK$19.9 million, according to a CSL spokesman quoted in People's Daily) to £50 million (according to a report in Italian sports daily La Gazzetta Dello Sport).

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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

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