Comments on: How far is China from becoming a superpower in football?

By: Chronis Angelidis

Chronis Angelidis — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 08:49:40 +0000

Hey Hubert! Thank you for your comment!
Your opinion is really interesting and realistic! I totally agree that they have to improve their youth development and to keep accepting “foreigners” as consultants. At moment, they have created a “global buzz” around their football -which had never happened before- and they have started showing that they are determined to improve more. In my opinion we will be able to investigate their progress in 4-5 years from now. As you said, at moment it is more important to set the foundations before they evolve.

By: Hubert Bienias

Hubert Bienias — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 21:49:39 +0000

Chronis, I am less optimistic than many. I have travelled to China, as I have to India, in order to promote our Elite Youth Development Consultancy at elite Football forums and found that the local football community is still very closed minded in terms of what it actually takes to become a successful football-playing nation in the 21st Century, in particular in the key area of youth development. At international level the elite level is now really elite and these countries must a) be more open to high-quality foreign assistance b) be less prone to think that by buying in top clubs who only see commercial opportunities in the country they are improving coaching and the like at the level that is necessary to achieve the goals they have set themselves and c) not be so proud as to tell everyone ‘we now know exactly what we are doing – we know just need time.’ The additional problem here is that many ‘foreign experts’ have come and gone from these countries, made their money but left very little real value behind – again big names have clouded the professionalism, process-led advisory and the sheer willpower needed on the part of the advisor to make sure that know-how is embedded into the organisation / set-up in question. For now I think that money is blinding people from the reality of the situation. Money blinded people before in this sport (think NASL in the USA) but only a more structured system, heavily supported by high-quality know-how from Europe, is actually moving the US in the right direction, and even there not without hiccups!

By: Chronis Angelidis

Chronis Angelidis — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 11:04:19 +0000

In reply to Jose Campos. Hey Jose! Thank you for your comment! I could not agree more! Maybe it will take them a little bit more time in order to achieve something because of World Cup's structure (3 games in groups, knockout phase) but they will definitely create many troubles to their opponents!

By: Jose Campos

Jose Campos — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 06:37:28 +0000

First at all, great article, very interesting and it’s a perfect recap of what is the situation in China.

I am currently working here in the football industry, in marketing but also coaching and I can clearly see how much are the investing in getting better at football. They want to be competitive in a World Cup in 20 years and I believe is totally possible if they keep doing everything that they are doing now.

By: Chronis Angelidis

Chronis Angelidis — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 07:28:46 +0000

In reply to Hugo. Hey Hugo! Thank you for your comment! You are definitely right! China's case study is still a big question mark! The sure thing is that they are on the right way and they will need at least 15-20 years in order to create a world class national squad!

By: Hugo

Hugo — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 23:56:45 +0000

China really want to change this, but it will be a hard task… when football is not part of the culture in schools, without competition organized from base, U9 or U11… when the teachers in schools don’t know how to teach the game… They need to learn with foreign coach what is the training, how to prepare the young players, how to organize themselves to grow in this sport. The Chinese football will need several years to change the reality of today.