Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has reportedly always had a dream about football, but in recent years, the level of the Chinese national football team has declined, and the football industry has been rocked by massive corruption scandals. After a large number of officials from the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Super League were brought down, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang convened a meeting on December 16th to discuss “revitalizing football,” sparking mockery among Chinese netizens who called it a “waste of money.” Some commentators believe that under the rule of the CCP, sports serve politics, and it’s impossible for the national football team to develop normally within the country’s system.
According to a report from Xinhua News Agency on December 16, Premier Li Keqiang presided over a State Council executive meeting where, in addition to economic and safety production issues, they also “studied the promotion of football revitalization and development work,” calling it a key task in building a strong sports nation, aiming to “constantly reach new heights,” and so on.
Li Keqiang’s meeting to discuss “revitalizing football” sparked heated discussions on Weibo:
“Good news! Promoting football revitalization and development! This concept is probably mentioned for the first time, belonging to the first-developed economy! Capturing two topics at once.”
“Too idle.” “They have the nerve to bring this up. Courageous move!””Don’t know what to say!””Refuse to invest in rubbish football.” “Football and A-shares, quite a sight.” “The key is the players not following instructions.” “Really hilarious…”
“With so many important national issues, isn’t it a waste of precious time to focus on this!””Why not study revitalizing A-shares.””Why not do something else.””Don’t want to see sad football.” “The world’s number one sport can drive a lot of consumption, much more reliable than the ice and snow economy.”
“While frontline workers in safety production are working tirelessly to protect people’s lives and property, in the football field, too much financial and human resources are being invested without seeing positive results, with many individuals earning huge incomes without achieving real progress.” “Waste of money, better to support education in remote areas.”
“It’s finally getting a bit better, don’t intervene, it will be ruined with one intervention.””Why bother, the level of football in the United States is not high either, it doesn’t affect the status of a world power, it’s just entertainment after all. If there’s no talent, just don’t force money into it, it’s a pure waste.” “What’s the point of football? It’s impressive if you can win an upset, but then what? Can Asia beat Japan and South Korea on a regular basis?”
On an overseas platform, some netizens commented: “A country is mobilizing efforts to promote football while unable to stop the stock market from declining, with 40% of workers having no employment opportunities, almost daily incidents of vehicular manslaughter, yet the upper echelons of the CCP still have the leisure to ‘revitalize football'”.
Since coming to power in 2012, Xi Jinping has occasionally expressed his love for football and expectations for Chinese football on diplomatic occasions. However, the reality after a decade shows that Xi Jinping’s “football dream” has shattered, leaving nothing but disappointment.
The “Overall Plan for the Reform and Development of Chinese Football” was released in 2015 to achieve Xi Jinping’s “football dream.” The Communist authorities elevated football to a national strategic level, establishing a “Football Reform Group.” Starting from 2015, the financial battle in football escalated, with transfer investments in the Chinese Super League ballooning from €72.17 million in 2014 to €403 million in 2017, making it one of the world’s biggest money-draining football league markets. However, due to the stringent policies of the CCP, along with abrupt changes due to administrative intervention, many foreign players who once sought fortunes in China have left.
Under the CCP’s comprehensive governance and national system, football within the ten years of Xi Jinping’s leadership has worsened as the Party’s grip has tightened, resulting in China’s football team dwindling to a second-rate level in Asia.
On September 5th of this year, the Chinese men’s national team suffered a crushing defeat of 0-7 against the Japanese team in the first game of the Asian Qualifiers 18th Round.
For a long time, Chinese football fans have blamed the team’s poor performance on the corruption in the management of Chinese football.
Starting from November 2022, a large-scale anti-corruption campaign in the field of Chinese football led to the downfall of almost all the leadership of the Chinese Football Association and the Chinese Super League, with some players and coaches also being arrested.
On December 13, 2024, former head coach of the Chinese men’s national football team Li Tie was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of bribery and corruption activities, alongside Du Zhaocai, former Deputy Director of the National Sports Administration and Secretary of the Communist Party of the Chinese Football Association, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined four million yuan.
In late March 2023, the General Administration of Sport of China conducted research on the development of the “Big Three Balls” (football, basketball, volleyball) in Liaoning and held a symposium. Gao Zhidan, the head, mentioned that for the revitalization and development of the “Big Three Balls,” it is essential to persist in the major political principle of “the Party controls sports” and to address the problem of “the Party’s leadership being too soft and weak” during the reform of the associations.
However, Ju Bin, a coach at a youth basketball training camp in Canada, stated to Dajiyuan that fundamentally, it’s because the CCP’s national system cannot allow sports independence; instead, sports become a political appendage that serves the political system, making athletes sacrificial lambs. To promote sports and allow for their normal development, there needs to be a free social system.