CHINA WILL PUT limits on the wild sums its clubs are spending on international football players, authorities said today, days after the transfer window opened and the Asian record was promptly smashed.
In an interview posted on the Chinese General Administration of Sport, an unnamed spokesman said the government would “regulate and restrain high-priced signings, and make reasonable restrictions on players’ high incomes”.
The statement came days after Shanghai SIPG recruited Brazilian star Oscar from Chelsea in a €60 million deal that broke the Asian transfer record.
Carlos Tevez, Argentina’s former Manchester United and Manchester City striker, was lured to rival Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua in another big-money deal.
Tevez’s transfer fee was believed to be around €10.5 million and the 32-year-old is reportedly set to become the highest-paid player in the world with a two-year contract of €38 million per season.
Oscar’s deal with Shanghai SIPG is thought to be €24 million a season — which would still put him above Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi of Barcelona.
Last year Chinese teams broke the Asian transfer record four times — including three times in 10 days in the winter transfer window, when their spending outstripped even the mega-rich English Premier League.
The world-beating deals are part of a Chinese rush into football that seems to be driven more by political calculations than fiscal ones.
China’s national team is ranked a lowly 82nd in the world — just below the Caribbean island nation of St Kitts and Nevis, population less than 60,000 — but Chinese president Xi Jinping has declared his hopes of the country one day hosting and winning a World Cup, prompting a flood of money into its top professional teams.
The wild spending has drawn criticism in China, with many fans asking whether the huge sums would be better spent on building up the country’s lagging infrastructure and talent in the sport.
Without citing specific numbers or names, the sports administration official said the government would “set the upper limit” for players’ transfer fees and income and control “irrational investment”.
It would consider measures such as taking fees from clubs that spend excessively to support youth development programmes.
“We must take building hundred-year clubs as the goal,” the spokesman said, adding that clubs’ financial supervision would be strengthened, and their spending on players would be controlled.
We will remove the seriously insolvent clubs from the professional league.
In December the Chinese Football Association, the sport’s governing body in China, announced it will lower the number of overseas players allowed on domestic teams from five to four.
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“The Aviva Stadium is expected to be at a reduced capacity for the game, in the region of 27,000, although that could change in the event of exceptional demand” surely that’s how it is with moat teams? I’d imagine there will be a lot more of a demand than the 27,000 capacity anyway.
@Dave Murray: I would have thought that certain sections will not be used with restricted capacity, resulting in a smaller staff requirement. If they put all 52k tickets on sale, all sections will have to be available and therefore full match day costs applied.
@Paul Ennis: I get that, just thought it(a little)odd that they would announce a 27,000 capacity restriction before tickets are on sale to the public and see what the demand is etc. But I guess with a short turn around and Easter weekend it could be harder to shift 50,000 tickets and get staff in like you said.
@Dave Murray: EPRC also organising the game rather than Leinster, and they’re shit at running things.
Without being presumptuous – is the semi final
Draw already planned out?
@Daithi Mc Ghiollamhairtin: Yeah. Leinster/Leicester v Toulouse/Sharks and La Rochelle/Salarycens v Exeter/Stormers
@baz dunne: many thanks
@baz dunne: Salarycens hahaha
5 day turnaround with the knock on effect of potential reduced capacity due to the limited timeframe is a great reward for going through as top seed. This is an absolute joke
@Rob Doyle: Your prize for top seed is its at “home” or at least 10mins down the road from it, so be thankful you’re not coming from Welford Rd with a week to plan it!! it does feel too near, be better if a 2 week gap but all the teams that are through are in the same scenario regardless of they seeding. 27k is an average sized rugby stadium, crucially it’s circa 10k more than full RDS capacity, and the fans all know the weekends of the semis well in advance, if not the exact day. I’m not overjoyed by a half full Aviva myself but it is what it is.
Real shame it’s not in a packed RDS, a half full Aviva sucks.
I think we’ll Leinster, Sharks, Stormers, and La Rochelle in the semis.
@Brenda Collins: 3 from URC? they’ll be due an ol restructure soon enough so.