Is Korean Football Really Being Hurt By China?
In a recent article in the Joongang Daily, it was argued that Korean football was being hurt by the rise of Chinese football. This summer, Asian Champions League finalists FC Seoul found their captain Ha Dae-Sung, and star striker Dejan Damjanovic move to Chinese clubs. The CSL is also attracting players from the J League with Korean international Jang Hyun-Soo, last year linked with Liverpool, making the move from FC Tokyo to Sven Goran Eriksson’s Guangzhou R&F. There has been a lots of talk about China becoming Asia’s new footballing superpower after Guangzhou Evergrande’s win in that final, but with only three non-Asian players (four in Evergrande’s case) and one extra non-Chinese Asian player allowed in each side, the CSL won’t be competing with any of the big European leagues any time soon. Developing a youth system takes time, and developing a culture of children playing the game, a vital part of creating a large enough pool of potential players, takes even longer. The purchases of Ha Dae-Sung and Jang Hyun-Soo help Chinese teams get that fourth quality player into their sides, but four players don’t make a team.
It surprised many that K league players have moved to China. The influx of money into the Chinese Super League has made it an attractive proposition for players to move to. But it still lacks the glamour and glory of playing in Europe. As we saw two years ago with Shenhua Shanghai’s attempt to capture Drogba and Anelka from Chelsea, money alone isn’t enough to persuade the very top stars to join. The pair have since left to return to European clubs. Even Guangzhou’s Argentine star Dario Conca preferred to return to Flumenense despite being the world’s third highest paid footballer whilst at Evergrande. Dejan’s move to Jiangsu may have been about the money, but I’m sure he would’ve preferred a move to a top European club if given the chance as Edu was when he moved from Suwon to Schalke.
The very top K league players will always move to Europe rather than China until Asian football’s profile in general rises. The rise of Chinese football can only help this. With a growing economy and huge population, China is a very attractive market for football, as shown by the regular tours of the country by European clubs. If the standard of the Asian Champions League, and the Chinese teams in the tournament rose, then the viewership of this competition could skyrocket, boosting television revenue, prize money, and the glamour of the competition. This will help improve Korean football by bringing more money into the game and increasing the global awareness of Korean football as well as giving domestic players the chance to play against teams of a higher standard than Singapore Armed Forces.
This isn’t to say that Korean football won’t be hurt by China. Whilst the movement of players from Korea to China isn’t particularly worrying, there is the risk of China poaching Korean youth team players, as mentioned by Lee Jang-Soo in the aforementioned article. There is also the issue that outside of their own leagues, both countries are in competition for the same foreign players. Both are scouting the South American leagues and Eastern European leagues to find those players who are of the quality of Edu and Dejan, and are willing to come to the K league or CSL. With Evergrande’s previous form in attracting Elkeson and Muriqui, their additional financial muscle could help them take the best of these available players, and leave Korea with a lower quality of foreign players to pick from. As we have seen with Pohang last season, this could lead to there being less foreigners in the K League in the future.
by Steve Price.
It surprised many that K league players have moved to China. The influx of money into the Chinese Super League has made it an attractive proposition for players to move to. But it still lacks the glamour and glory of playing in Europe. As we saw two years ago with Shenhua Shanghai’s attempt to capture Drogba and Anelka from Chelsea, money alone isn’t enough to persuade the very top stars to join. The pair have since left to return to European clubs. Even Guangzhou’s Argentine star Dario Conca preferred to return to Flumenense despite being the world’s third highest paid footballer whilst at Evergrande. Dejan’s move to Jiangsu may have been about the money, but I’m sure he would’ve preferred a move to a top European club if given the chance as Edu was when he moved from Suwon to Schalke.
The very top K league players will always move to Europe rather than China until Asian football’s profile in general rises. The rise of Chinese football can only help this. With a growing economy and huge population, China is a very attractive market for football, as shown by the regular tours of the country by European clubs. If the standard of the Asian Champions League, and the Chinese teams in the tournament rose, then the viewership of this competition could skyrocket, boosting television revenue, prize money, and the glamour of the competition. This will help improve Korean football by bringing more money into the game and increasing the global awareness of Korean football as well as giving domestic players the chance to play against teams of a higher standard than Singapore Armed Forces.
This isn’t to say that Korean football won’t be hurt by China. Whilst the movement of players from Korea to China isn’t particularly worrying, there is the risk of China poaching Korean youth team players, as mentioned by Lee Jang-Soo in the aforementioned article. There is also the issue that outside of their own leagues, both countries are in competition for the same foreign players. Both are scouting the South American leagues and Eastern European leagues to find those players who are of the quality of Edu and Dejan, and are willing to come to the K league or CSL. With Evergrande’s previous form in attracting Elkeson and Muriqui, their additional financial muscle could help them take the best of these available players, and leave Korea with a lower quality of foreign players to pick from. As we have seen with Pohang last season, this could lead to there being less foreigners in the K League in the future.
by Steve Price.
