Chinese football

China has many jokes about football. In the past Spring Festival Evening, Uncle Benshan also used China football to "fool"! However, there is a joke that must be fresh in my memory-a Korean player asked God: How many years will it take us to win the World Cup? God replied: 30 years! Koreans cried ... A Japanese player asked God: How many years will it take us to win the World Cup? God replied: 50 years. The Japanese cried again ... A China player also asked God: How many years will it take us to win the World Cup? God looked at the players in China and cried himself ... Of course, these jokes are just a way to vent the disappointment of China fans, which is too emotional. However, on the other hand, it also reflects that China football really makes people lose hope. At least for now.

Looking back on the "bitter and bloody history" of China football in recent 20 years, we can easily draw a conclusion: China football has not learned from many failures, nor has it gained experience from accidental "success". If you lose, fire the coach, change players and pursue responsibility. If you succeed, you will be blindly optimistic and complacent, covering up all the ugliness. Like the strength level, the development of football in China is in the "primary stage".

In order to completely break the vicious circle of low-level repetition of China football in the past 20 years, the most important thing is not to care about temporary achievements and immediate gains and losses, but to seriously start from the foundation and make China football a real "water with energy and a tree with roots". What we really need is patience to change the present situation of football in China.

Football in China needs "shock" therapy

In all fairness, compared with the world soccer powers, China has a low starting point and a short development time, and there is indeed a big gap. However, if you want to achieve good results, you can't be unrealistic, you can't risk not respecting the rules of football, you can't be reckless, and you can't even be linked to your political achievements! China football must find a way to develop football that suits its own characteristics and combines the realistic characteristics of China. The "shock" therapy of "Don't ask China's football achievements in the next 20 years" may be a "good prescription" for China football to learn from a painful experience and cure stubborn diseases.

At present, in China football circle, the performance of the national team has become the most important criterion to measure the success. For the sake of the national team competition, under the pressure of all parties, the managers of China football had to deviate from the law of football professionalization and repeatedly sacrificed the construction of second-and third-tier leagues and youth football, which made China football walk around in a failed cycle.

How to strengthen the cultivation of young football talents? How to strengthen the league building? How to cultivate a coaching team that can really "preach, teach and solve doubts"? How should the national team be formed and commanded? How to allocate the existing football development funds? How can China football communicate better with the world football powers? What style should China football form? These questions need the decision-makers and managers of China football to think deeply and find out the answers.

Now all the problems of China football have been covered up by the "qualifying task". In order to qualify, fans can forgive the repeated delays of football management agencies in youth training; In order to qualify, the Football Association can spend most of its funds on China's endless overseas training. But what if we don't care if they are qualified? The shock of the national team's performance will, to a certain extent, arouse the attention of all parties to the overall development of China football!

China football should have the courage to face up to its own problems and gaps; China football should have such determination and seriously reflect on its own style and development direction; China football should take such measures to give more support and attention to the league and basic training; China football should have such patience and be willing to endure the loneliness in the process of infrastructure construction! "Starting from dolls" is the law of football development.

Turning the annual ring of memory back to 1978, Comrade Deng Xiaoping visited the Iranian football team during his visit to China and put forward the viewpoint that "football should start with dolls". However, 30 years later, China football has not tasted the achievements of youth football construction! What we see is that, on the one hand, the managers of China football loudly call for attention to the construction of youth football; On the other hand, the domestic youth football construction is still neglected and almost stagnant. Therefore, if China football really wants to have a future, it is a key step to implement the construction of youth football!

When talking about the backward youth football construction in China, Yang Yimin, vice chairman of China Football Association, admitted at the national youth football development seminar that there were deviations in the development ideas and policies of youth football during the professional reform of football in China. "It is one of the important reasons to ignore and dilute the original reserve force training system with the sports commission system as the main body and amateur sports schools at all levels as the carrier." Gao, the former coach of the national team, believes that the current lack of grassroots support for school football has also seriously shrunk the training of football talents. However, due to the imperfect construction, domestic football clubs cannot undertake the task of cultivating football reserve talents.

According to the reporter's understanding, China Football Association, local sports bureaus and even some clubs and coaches are exploring and trying to cultivate young football talents. At the China Football Work Conference held at the beginning of this year, the China Football Association put forward a new plan to train young players: all players under the age of 20 will return to the management of local sports bureaus and can participate in the National Games; Restore professional teams in various provinces and cities; Focus on supporting school football. In this regard, Xie Yalong, vice chairman of China Football Association, said: "The local government has the task of the National Games and will train young players more seriously than the current clubs. We want to reintegrate football into the overall planning of China sports. " Xu Genbao's "Chongming Football School" model, Shandong's "Luneng Football School" model and former international players such as Shen Si and Ma Mingyu's "Educational Football" model are all looking for feasible ways to cultivate China's football reserve force. ...

However, as the famous football player Mark Jian said in an interview with the media: "No matter what kind of training method, the key to the construction of youth football is implementation. The government, sports departments, football circles, schools and the whole society should attach importance to this work. Only when more people are involved in this project can we form a good football atmosphere and ultimately promote the development of football in China. "

From the beginning, to the execution, for the current stage of China football, it can be described as a golden jade!

After reflecting on a series of phenomena and problems in this series of special topics about football in China, we finally have a foothold in our thinking. In other words, after discussing what and why from many angles, what must be discussed now is how: what should we do next?

In recent two years, the saying that "China will bid for the World Cup" has been repeatedly mentioned. This is the only topic that fans can look forward to under the background that China football is in the ice age as a whole, although this expectation seems out of reach. However, China football has no confidence to bid now, and bidding for the World Cup is not a good medicine to save China football. Optimistically speaking, it can only be a great driving force for China's football reform.

2008 is a great year for sports all over the world, especially in China, because of the Beijing Olympic Games. But after the Olympics? Many people hope to have a brand-new sustenance, so bidding for the men's football World Cup has become a dream of many people. In recent two or three years, every time FIFA President Blatter came to China, he was asked about his bid to host the World Cup. The Swiss will make public statements. He supported China's bid to host the World Cup and believed that China could host the World Cup well.

No one will take Blatter's words seriously, because it turned out that Blatter would say such things every country. However, China people still have the dream of bidding for the World Cup, and this dream comes naturally: China's economic development speed, sports development level, sports facilities and social development needs should all be able to bid for the World Cup. In Asia, Japan and South Korea co-hosted the World Cup in 2002, and China is the most suitable place to return to Asia next time.

Even the sponsors think so. Tao Jin of Adidas, the double sponsor of the World Cup and the Olympic Games, told reporters: "After the Olympic Games, there is no doubt that the next sports competition in China is the World Cup. I think it is absolutely necessary for China football to consider bidding for the 2022 or 2026 World Cup, which is a very serious matter. For the sport of football, for China, who created and invented ancient football, hosting a World Cup is a very meaningful and necessary strategic design. " Driven by the rapid economic development, many cities have all the conditions for hosting the World Cup in terms of hardware facilities. 199 1 and in 2007, China also successfully hosted two World Cup women's football competitions, which gave us confidence in bidding for the World Cup.

But the biggest question (perhaps the only question) is, with the status and level of football in China, can it support its bid for the World Cup? In other words, is it necessary for China football to bid for the World Cup?

The world ranking of China men's soccer team has dropped to 100 in recent two years, and the latest ranking is only 83rd. In the nearly 100-year history of the World Cup, there has never been such a weak host. The only time China participated in the World Cup was the embarrassing record of conceding 0 goals and 9 goals in three games. FIFA certainly didn't want to create the worst host in history. China's league is also in the doldrums. In the past two years, although the match-fixing black whistle is no longer rampant, its popularity and level are still deteriorating.

Therefore, for China football, bidding for the World Cup can only be a beautiful long-term plan, which can't be put on the agenda at all. Whether bidding for 2022, 2026 or 20 18, we can only think about it. The important thing is to do your job well, improve the level and atmosphere of football, and keep pace with the national team and the league. This is a problem that must be solved before bidding for the World Cup. An insider vividly said, "What China Football should do now is to repair the pond first, then put it in clean and nutritious water, and then put it in the fry. Fish will grow healthily in a good living environment. In fact, the root of the problem of China football is that our system reform is not thorough, which leads to the result of taking the lead. If we want to bid for the World Cup, we must carry out a truly thorough football reform, make professional leagues develop healthily, standardize club management, enrich the living soil of players and let young players participate more. Then plan and prepare in a planned, targeted and phased manner. Maybe four years later, China football can really stand up straight and bid for the World Cup. "

It is an indisputable fact that football in China needs to be reformed, whether it is for bidding for the World Cup or not. In China, football reform can't be from bottom to top, only from top to bottom. It can even be said that the first thing to do is to choose the right head-a professional head with modern knowledge and scientific management.

As for what kind of leader the China Football Association needs, there has long been a consensus in the circle. "First of all, he should have a little football foundation, at least know the difficulties and differences in the synchronous development of football and other projects. He doesn't need to be a real football professional, but at least he needs to know some objective laws of football. Secondly, he should have a good educational background, and it is best to have the experience of being educated abroad. This can help him understand the position of football in the world, understand the gap of football in China, and then find the right position and attack accurately; Third, he must know some business management knowledge and know how to treat the commercial operation of football as business management. "

The three leaders of the professional league have their own merits, but they are all unsuccessful and have not been well received. Wang Junsheng is a professional who focuses on competition and project management, but he is too used to Jianghu and lacks knowledge of market management. Before taking office, Yan Shiduo was the director of the Regulation Department of the State Administration of Taxation. The purpose of appointing him by the leaders is also very clear, that is, to improve the "unruly and chaotic management" of China football. Unfortunately, many policies and reforms during Yan's tenure proved to be reckless and disorderly. When Xie Yalong took office, he had a strong Olympic background, and there were obvious operational traces when he switched to football. Facts have proved that it is difficult to find the crux of the football problem in China whether you are really capable and ambitious in managing a project. Coupled with the constraints of the Olympic strategy, it became a fact that it was eventually excluded from the inner and outer circles, and governance failure became inevitable.

After the 2008 Olympic Games, the State Sports General Administration will also make corresponding adjustments. Football itself is not a big winner of Olympic medals, and even the Olympic medal winning points are difficult to maintain. It is possible to realize socialized market management completely out of the sports commission system. In this way, at least one thing can be avoided-the most important manager of China Football Association is an administrative official who knows nothing about football.

The first step of football reform in China should be to choose the right coach. It will be the best result if insiders can recommend and select a coach who is really suitable for China Football Association at the national football conference. However, under the current sports system, it is very difficult to realize this idea, and even if there is a real democratic choice, it is difficult to realize the complete professionalization and real reform of football without the real decentralization of the national sports authorities.

Choosing the right manager is only the first step. The most fundamental task of China football reform is the professionalization of the Football Association itself. If we want to find the right way of football in China, we should first reorganize the Football Association, and then reorganize the league. The functions of the Football Association should also be changed, and the league should be delegated to the Super League Committee or professional league as far as possible.

Doubts about the low ability of China Football Association to manage league matches have existed since the beginning of professional league matches. For example, the relevant laws and regulations are not perfect, the handling of problems is emotional, the methods and standards are different, and there are strong traces of people management. What is most criticized by fans and the media is that there is nothing to do with the phenomenon of "fake gambling". In fact, more and more people think that as the competent department of the industry, the future work orientation of the Football Association should be centered on the popularization and improvement of youth football, coordinating and supervising the preparation and formation of national teams at all levels; In the management of professional leagues, the Football Association should delegate its power to the Super League Committee or the football professional leagues that may be established in the future. In other words, the Football Association needs to gradually change from the previous manager and dominant position to the professional league service, coordination agency and supervision department. This football management mode is the most practical and popular way in the development trend of football in the world today.

In operation, the Football Association also needs reform. In the early days of professional leagues, the sponsorship market of the football industry was relatively chaotic, and the investment of merchants was relatively blind. At this time, as long as the Football Association has specialized managers or investment promotion agencies, it can complete the basic investment promotion work. However, after 14 years of professional leagues, sponsors have lost confidence in football projects and have many doubts about the development of professional leagues led by the Football Association. At this time there must be more professional management teams and management teams to control the development direction of professional football. If China Football Association doesn't want China football to be killed in its own hands, it must give investors and clubs, the main bodies of professional leagues, the real right to speak and let them really participate, instead of just paying for "public welfare undertakings".

Many people are discussing the possibility of establishing a "professional football league" in China. However, even if such a structure can be established, we still need some real collaborators and cooperative projects. The possibility of the continued success of this project is almost zero in terms of the Football Association's own operational capacity. In reality, China Football Association's partners are Infront, Adidas and Super League. Dewey, the head coach of the Olympic team, is actually one of the Sino-foreign cooperation projects. Infront is mainly responsible for the China team, and Adidas is a special partner. Super League Company is a professional league company controlled by Football Association, and its subordinate partners include Nike, Jinwei Beer, CCTV and Sohu Sports. Carefully consider these partners, except for media partners, sports brands and football-related consumer goods, our extended partners are almost blank.

Now the China Football Association, not only the league management is not good, but also the management of the national team has failed. From the selection of IMG from 1993, to the later ISL, and then to the status quo of Infront, except IMG cooperation is not bad, other cooperation has problems. If China Football Association is unconscious or unwilling to change its way of doing things and its attitude towards its partners, the possibility of the next cooperation failure is still great. Like the shocking defeat of this World Cup, many people blame the Football Association for abandoning the AFC development company that can bring more direct benefits and choosing Infront. This is a decision-making mistake caused by the Football Association's "control for money".

"There is no need to choose AFC company and give up Fang Ying. The key point is that this negotiation method is very unprofessional. It's okay for you to seize the low price of both sides and pursue the best interests, but you can't hurt your feelings. In business, once there are only two competitors left, you'd better communicate openly instead of making small moves, which will make everyone very unhappy in the end. Such a bad business way as China Football Association can be completely abandoned by people in the industry after being exposed, and some even deliberately set up games to "hack". Whether it is realistic or long-term interests, the most important thing is that you can't make a big profit and let your partners suffer. Such cooperation cannot last long. The Football Association made several mistakes in its cooperation with Infront. The first is to pay too much attention to money and vested interests. The second is that the negotiation method is somewhat inferior; The third is to hold the wrong thigh, just like marrying a wife. Don't think that the daughter of a rich family is good. Her personality, adaptability and willingness to live together are more important than money. "

"Professional league 14 years, but it has created the lowest record of professionalism of China Football Association. If the management is not good, the club may go bankrupt, resell or even close down. Players can be suspended, put on the list or even disqualified for match fixing. Professional coaches can finish class immediately after a game. But the China Football Association, as well as the vast majority of staff, can sit in the melting pot of professional leagues! Therefore, in order to save the football in China, the Football Association must go to the market completely, and their professional reform is a process that must be taken, otherwise it is useless to change the professional league! Problems such as staff procrastination, low management level, low efficiency and rampant bureaucracy of the Football Association cannot be fundamentally reversed under the current mechanism. " Some words of a retired cadre in the sports commission system hit the nail on the head.

Football reform should be top-down, from China Football Association to professional leagues. There are many places where the Super League needs to be reformed, and it is difficult to elaborate, but the most important thing at present is the dilemma of TV broadcasting.

Judging from the development track of European football, without the participation of live TV broadcast, it is difficult for professional football to make a breakthrough in economic benefits, thus restricting the improvement of the overall level of the league. At present, there is only TV as a tool, which can infinitely expand the communication value and economic benefits of a football match. However, the TV coverage of the Super League is getting lower every year. From the Football Association to the clubs, CCTV has always been regarded as a "specialized TV station", and it is difficult to break through the copyright fee for their live TV broadcast. But in fact, it is the low-level professional league that restricts the income level of Super League TV. This is a vicious circle: low-level competitions make TV broadcasting worthless, and low TV broadcasting fees further restrict the development of the league.

In 2007, Tiansheng European Football Channel bought out the exclusive broadcasting rights of the Premier League in Chinese mainland for three years at a sky-high price of $50 million. Derbyshire Club, which relegated to the Premier League, still got 34 million pounds of TV broadcasting fee last season. What about the Super League Club? The annual TV broadcasting fee of Super League Company is almost negligible. In 2007, Super League * * * had two national broadcast platforms (Oriental TV and CCTV-5), 12 provincial broadcast stations and 12 municipal broadcast stations, with a cumulative audience of10.40 billion, the highest since the Super League, but the club still could not get more money from the TV broadcast fee. There is a simple reason. The TV broadcast of the Super League is depreciating more and more. Some people dare to spend $50 million to buy a three-year Premier League, but no one wants to spend $6.5438+million to buy a three-year Super League.

In fact, although the above 26 TV organizations are participating in the broadcast, only CCTV and Shanghai Wenguang really pay the Football Association. Together with the 6.5438+0.5 million yuan provided by new media partner Sohu, the total copyright value of Super League TV is about 30 million yuan, which is far less than the TV share of the worst club in the Premier League. What's the problem? When CCTV stuck to the bottom line of league price, Ma Guoli, then director of sports channel, once said, "First, I can't make a big hole in football. There are too many sports to support in China; Secondly, the value of China Football League is really not high. To put it bluntly, this incident is still worthless. "

CCTV Sports Channel, which was established in June 1 995+1October1,benefited from the live broadcast of the football league and the unique platform advantages of CCTV. At present, CCTV-5 (now the Olympic channel) occupies more than 80% of the whole sports resources. However, in many CCTV-5 programs and live events, the live broadcast of Super League is often ranked outside 10, especially in the face of the live broadcast of NBA events by Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, Super League is no longer the darling of CCTV sports resources.

In 2008, there were 50 local channels and 10 paid sports channels (including websites) broadcasting NBA. In fact, the 42 local sports channels born at the peak of football have now been reduced to about 20. Many sports channels in the past have been merged or squeezed by local life channels and entertainment channels, but even so, there are still 50 local channels that broadcast NBA basketball games live. Moreover, in local sports channels, the ratings and operation of basketball programs are much better than football. Liaoning Sports Channel pays Wenguang Group a copyright fee of about 700,000 yuan for the live broadcast of the Super League every year. However, in practice, Liaoning TV Station won't earn hundreds of thousands of yuan for the live broadcast of Liaozu for a season. The live broadcast of CBA events of Liaoning men's basketball team is completely different. Not only the sponsors are enthusiastic, but also it is easy to attract investment. Its hot live broadcast atmosphere and the degree of interaction during live broadcast make the live broadcast of Super League hard to reach.

In addition, China football players themselves don't cherish the live TV broadcast. Many clubs in Europe will organize a "media training" for players before the season, which is to train professional players how to treat media and TV institutions correctly, especially how to cooperate with TV media for live broadcast. This has become a compulsory course. The live broadcast time of European football is very long, usually one hour before the game and one hour after the game, which requires the tacit cooperation of a large number of players, coaches, staff and fans. It can be said that modern football is actually "TV football". But this concept has no market at all in the Super League. Dragon TV, as the anchor station of the league, did a lot of work in the early stage of the live broadcast of the Super League, but it was difficult to get the support of the team and players. Liu Yong, who is in charge of the live broadcast of the Super League, said, "China players have poor TV concepts and are very emotional when they broadcast live. They will always think that they are the main body of the professional league. They will chat with the media when they are happy, and push the live microphone away when they are unhappy. Event organizers also give us a headache. For example, every night 19: 30, under normal circumstances, we will appear at 19: 25, followed by ceremonies such as raising the national flag and taking photos. Television organizations should complete subtitles, sponsors' advertisements, short interviews with guests and other programs in these few minutes. But at present, many games are not punctual, often 19: 28, so we are not binding at all. How does this situation of football live broadcast improve the TV value of the league? "

This is the reality: if the TV station can't get more economic returns from the live broadcast of the Super League, then there can be no real breakthrough in the TV copyright fee of the Super League; However, if the quality of the league is still at a low level, it will be an extravagant hope for professional football to break through the TV link.