China 2008 Special: A Bad Year But There Is Hope For Chinese Football

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China Fans - Fight for the motherland (Goal.com)

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Outside the Pudong district of Shanghai (Shenhua had been forced to move from their usual Hongkou Stadium thanks to a Kylie Minogue concert) and the city of Jinan further up the coast, few were able to watch. China Central TV pulled the plug on domestic football in November. Head of the CCTV sports channel Jiang Heping said. "The state of Chinese football at the moment makes everyone feel bitter. If it goes on like this, it's in danger of being thoroughly destroyed.”

This decision was reported around the world. It is fashionable to bash Chinese football and while taking away coverage from the game isn't going to help, Jiang has a point. 2008 could have been a great season for Chinese football but it was another series of disappointments.

They shouldn't be blown out of proportion however. No league is free from problems. Even in the stronger neighbouring leagues of Korea and Japan, this season has seen crowd violence in the J and Match-fixing in the K (though with more than a helping hand from Chinese gamblers). These are familiar stories. Past corruption scandals, unprofessional behaviour by some players and coaches and general incompetence has led to most Chinese football fans having little respect for and trust in the league.

Even as I attended the opening round of games back in March, there was little of the expectation that you witness on opening days around the world. Fans have become cynical and weary and are surprised that a visitor would show any interest in their domestic game. As I returned in the second half of the season, the mood was worse.

There are reasons why. The biggest was the disastrous attempt to qualify for the 2010 World Cup - one well-documented on Goal.com this year.   

The head of the Chinese Football Association Nan Yeng told me in March that not reaching the World Cup would be a tragedy. That was just after they had drawn with Australia in Kunming. Things were different then. A good draw away against Asian Champions Iraq, followed by another point against favourites Australia had everyone satisfied, and if Shao Jiayi, a player usually good with a dead ball have scored a late penalty against the Aussies, then things could have turned out very differently.

They didn't. A third draw was followed by defeats at the hands of Qatar and Iraq and it was all over for another four years. It was all a bit of a mess. Vladamir Petrovic was the head coach, in theory, though fellow Serb and Olympic boss Ratomir Dujkovic was the man in power and was in a worse temper every time I talked to him. Both are now gone and neither have been missed.

Dujkovic was fired - though the official reports said that he had been moved to an advisory role - three weeks before the Olympics started. It made no difference. The Olympics were supposed to put the smile back on the face of fans. Hosting the competition and in a group that didn't look too tough, a place in the knockout stage was within reach.

Such hopes didn't last long as only a late equalizer by Dong Fangzhuo earned a point in the opening game against supposed group whipping boys New Zealand. It got worse with desperate defeats against Belgium and Brazil. With 51 gold medals being heralded by an ecstatic Chinese media, only scorn was awarded to the football team by fans and reporters alike. Reports of clandestine off-the-pitch activities by senior players just made a bad situation worse.

Domestically though, matters were better. The title race was a good one and while attendances are nowhere near the level of the nineties heyday, there were encouraging signs. Shanxi Baorong made the early running and while it was never likely to last, over 50,000 fans turned up to see the team knocked off the top in September by Shandong. The city of Xi'an is passionate about football and Chinese football bosses are hoping that Shanxi can challenge again in 2009 especially as traditional powerhouse Dalian seem to have lost their way.

With Tianjin and Beijing’s inability to break from the chasing pack, it was Shanghai and Shandong who ended up trading blows at the top and . In the end, it was Shanghai's poor away form that cost them the title. But just as the race was getting really interesting, it was overshadowed by the events in Hubei Province.

The eight-game ban handed to new- and expensive - signing, Li Weifeng for violent conduct in a league match against Beijing, led to Wuhan withdrawing from the league and protests in the city. The fact that the team looked already doomed to relegation may have had something to do with it but it gave the knockers another string to their bows and cast a  shadow over the closing stages of the season.

It is not all doom and gloom however. The economic crisis could actually help China as teams depend little on big business compared to the likes of Korea and Japan and already European agents are considering Chinese destinations for their charges. On the pitch, the delight in Jinan on Sunday was as real as the disappointment in the ranks of the Blue Devils in Shanghai and the devastation felt by fans of relegated Liaoning.

For those fans, as well as all Chinese football, there is always hope.      

John Duerden

Asia Editor

john.duerden@goal.com