John Yan: China’s CSL shows growth but can it grow up? 职业化二十年,价值几何?

The 2013 edition of China Super League Value Report was recently released by Netease.com and Total Sports. This is the second edition of the annual report on professional football in China.

The report is divided into four parts: the management of the China Super League Company, which is a body like the English Premier League Committee; the second part covers the financial situation of the 16 clubs in the top division; the third part looks at a hot issue –

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John Yan: A football city without a club 饥渴的西安

Xian

There was one stand which attracted my attention all the time. By the southeast corner of the Xi’an Stadium, a stand full of people dressed in red, had been chanting, singing, and waving their red scarves throughout the 90-minute match.

It was a cold and windy night in Xi’an, the capital city of Shanxi province. It is also the greatest capital city in China’s history – it was the capital of the old empires of a lot of dynasties.

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John Yan: The Age of Tuhao 恒大是现象,还难称模式

All eyes were focused on the match, tagged as ‘The Fly to the Top of Asia’. Quite like the Party’s propoganda protocol, a bit like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest…

On November 9 in Guangzhou, Evergrande were crowned the champions of Asia, grandly. Even though the official TV ratings figures didn’t prove this match attracted a dominant viewership nationally, go through any media outlet, the impression was on that night, nothing could compare to the club’s climb to the top of Asia.

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John Yan: The Most Valuable ACL Final Ever 广州恒大:疯狂的足球节日

On November 9, the second round of the Asian’s Champions League Final will take place in Guangzhou. It is widely reckoned to be the most valuable final ever held for a football competition in Asia. It may become a record that takes a long long time to break.

It is still hard to calculate what the TV ratings will be, because normally TV ratings research in mainland China is not trustworthy, with only a couple of research companies operating in the company currently.

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John Yan: Football stories that are not always about football 恒大往何处去?

I am almost becoming bored of writing about Guangzhou Evergrande week in and week out, but the story just keeps building and is completelyly dominating the Chinese football focus?

Guangzhou Evergrande secured a draw in the first round of the final of the Asian Champions League, 2:2, away to South Korean Seoul FC, on October 26. The match happened in golden time on a Saturday, 6:30pm, creating a new record for live football coverage on TV with distribution across CCTV,

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John Yan: An Open Interview With Sun Jihai 为什么不用孙继海?

On my own program The Football Talk, which is broadcast every Friday on www.163.com, I had a long interview with Sun Jihai, China’s most successful ever footballer. In this 90 minutes chat, Sun covered issues about his bewilderment of being omitted from the national team, even though at the age of 37, he is still being voted week in week out as the top centre half in the China Super League. Sun also compared the different football cultures in China and Europe,

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John Yan: An insult to the public mood 中国足球,侮辱公众情绪

Away to Indonesia on October 15, the away round of qualification group matches of the Asian Cup, Team China earned an embarrasing draw, 1:1. Indonesia’s FIFA ranking before the match was 170th.

Funny thing happened again. A week before the match, the President of China, Mr. Xi Jinping, was visiting Indonesia, and made some comments about his beloved game of football: “I hope one day that China and Indonesia could meet in the finals of World Cup,”

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John Yan: Politicians in club shirts 异乡与故乡

Chinese leaders

When a whole nation just has one club to support, there must be something wrong. Even though the club might become the most successful one ever in China’s football history.

Guangzhou Evergrande, yes, the club from Guangzhou again. After winning convincingly in the Asian Champions League (ACL) semi-final, they took their third successive domestic league title with 4 rounds to spare. This time they won the league at their nearest rival’s pitch, defeating Shandong Luneng FC 4:2 on October 6.

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John Yan: Money Talks EverGrandely

In a resounding match, Guangzhou EverGrande defeated Kashiwa Reysol 4:1 at the Japanese club’s home pitch in the first round of the semi-final of Asian Champions League, a place for Guangzhou in the final is almost a certainty.

This would be regarded as a great breakthrough for Chinese football, some media even described it as the twilight of the dark age. A series of records will be broken if Guangzhou could make it to the final and win it,

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John Yan: 赛事直播多频时代 A multi-screen age for football in China

赛事直播多频时代

关于欧洲的顶级足球联赛,中国球迷的幸运程度,要在欧洲球迷之上——只要你有足够多时间和足够大的兴趣,你可以看到绝大部分顶级欧洲足球职业赛事。

8月18日,一个全新的免费体育赛事频道,将出现在央视的频道矩阵当中,名为”5+”,意指CCTV5之外的又一个体育频道。央视体育中心主任江和平在介绍”5+”时,用”全赛事全高清全天候全开路”进行概括,”全开路”就说明了这个频道的免费性质。

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John Yan: From Belgium With Hope

在都灵的Football Avenue论坛上,我见到了意大利足球传奇人物,吉亚尼·里维拉,1969年的金球奖先生、1970年世界杯意大利的10号。这位AC米兰名宿,和同时期国际米兰马佐拉,为一时瑜亮。里维拉来演讲的话题,是关于青少年足球培训,着重于青少年业余足球培训的各种细节,从”足球父母”如何在配合孩子学业的过程中,将足球作为孩子成长的重要工具,到孩子们训练周期的安排,以及不同年龄组别孩子在接受培训后,教练和父母应该特别注意把握的一些心理培训尺度等等。

当年的”金童”,如今已是七旬长者,里维拉和巴乔一样,都是意大利足协的青少年足球推广大使,这样的”大使”,不是被安排为引发观众尖叫踩踏、临走时挥一挥衣袖的偶像,而是真正加入到青训普及工程中,用自己的专业知识和社会影响力,来着力推动青训的导师。

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John Yan: 不能容忍的灰色地带 A Tacit-Understanding Match

不能容忍的灰色地带

经过伪职业足球在中国二十年的教育,我逐渐学会了辨析”假球”和”默契球”这些专有名词之间的细微差别,甫一听到都感觉不可思议且义愤填膺,对于那些骗子掮客,绳之以法是刻不容缓的。然而这样的场景一再重现——十多年前,”渝沈之战,绝对假球!”这样的标题,让我无比震撼,可是震撼完了之后,哪怕我们都没忘记这样比赛的存在,我们也只能在无可奈何中继续承受着。

所以社会公认:球迷是中国最苦逼的群落。现实的不堪与肮脏,或许你还能找到一些办法排遣和缓释,可足球本来是给大家一个闲暇时聚众的机会、让社会群落在聚众的环境下找回部分心理平衡,然而中国足球显然只有让你心理更严重失衡的作用。

如此的弄虚作假,光天化日之下进行,手段拙劣嚣张,所以有人说天津辽宁这样的”默契球”,”比’假球’技术含量低多了”。在严格的职业足球环境里,这样的职业比赛,呈现给观众的就是一种具备观赏价值和地域归属感的产品,从而换取观众支付的门票现金、通过电视观看的收视率,并且将这些关注度在第二级市场上形成转化,得到广告赞助收入。社会契约关系,是职业体育商品化的属性组成。天津辽宁的比赛,倘若被认定是”默契球”,那么就是对所有观看这场比赛的现场观众、电视观众以及中超乃至足球所有观众的一次欺骗。这样的欺骗,本质上和售贩假冒伪劣产品,有何差别?

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John Yan: Reform the CFA or Dismiss the CFA 足协剥离,生吞活剥

足协剥离,生吞活剥

任何一条和中国足球体制改革的新闻,哪怕新闻源头很有些问题,都会让不少人兴奋,都会激起各种YY式的遐想和评论,因为在这个话题方向上,我们关注的不仅仅是中国足球,其实更是一种社会新闻的关注。

所以当”中国足协将和体育总局剥离、高层指示剔除行政指令”这样的标题出现时,我也被裹挟进入大众YY的洪流中,虽然我觉得这标题已经很可笑——高层指示剔除行政指令?这样的”指示”,本身是否也属于”行政指令”?新闻的诞生,来自于《足球报》,但是对于新闻源缺乏描述——这我们也早已习惯了,对于中国社会任何涉及到体制改革的话题,新闻源头都只能靠猜以及意会。只是新闻本身除了标题吓人以外,实质性内容毫无新鲜感。

改革就是管办分离,给中国足协真正的协会身份,不再以政府行政部门方式管理中国足球,彻底放权中国足协管理中国足球,不再让体育总局过多干预。报道言之凿凿,连未来机构设置调整,都有一些细节安排,并且援引一名足协人士感慨说:”这是中国足球最大的利好消息,1比5的学费总算没有白交。”

说来道去,无非是高层又不满了,领导又震怒了,看上去和许家印”1比5让我忍无可忍是耻辱”一个意思。于是要改革,而且是领导决定要改革。但是对于”领导”这个概念的理解,产生了多重复杂性:这当中既包括体育总局的领导,又包括体育总局领导的领导,可能还有更上面的领导的领导。

我不相信这样的改革能取得成功,甚至连向前挪动一步的可能性都不太具备,这明显是在为足协诿过,回避了中国足协本身能力低下,浮沉于体制之内,早已失去对一个市场化程度最高的职业运动项目的管理能力。领导怒了,要改革,但倘若改革如此进行的话,其实是保护了足协——不让国家体育总局更多行政干预足球事务管理,这样的思路未必错误,只是”放权让中国足协管理中国足球”的决定,会不会让人啼笑皆非?

这个机构的颟邗无能,已经得到了十多年来连绵不断失败的证明,不仅在国家队成绩上,而是在职业联赛管理、青少年足球普及、业余足球推广、市场拓展和内部廉洁等全方面的失败。一个机构如果溃烂至此,肯定不仅仅是因为几个为头的腐败堕落,而是从上至下遍布的问题。足协老大的位置,王俊生阎世铎算是安全着陆,谢亚龙南勇锒铛入狱,韦迪走得虽然凄惶,至少没有牢狱之灾,如今的张剑噤若寒蝉、无话可说。他们懂或者不懂行,所有决定的执行,都是通过足协中下层去执行的,以为拿掉一个老大,就能正本清源?

就像一惨败,就震怒,就”必须改革”一样,这更是政治反应,而不是真正为了提高中国足球。将”改革”的大旗打起来,又何尝不是新的一次危机公关、视线转移,让大家不再去顶着615惨败背后的原因,让大家暂且忘掉连年失败的凋敝,重新描画一张新的大饼。

615惨败的三大疑问依旧在那里飘荡着:有没有国脚消极比赛做掉卡马乔的可能?有没有俱乐部控制球员消极比赛的可能?有没有赌博集团操控比赛的可能?足协高层屡屡做出错误决定,那么中下层执行过程中,又是怎样去操作的,他们具备管理足球的能力吗?

前事尽忘,后事何师?解决不了眼皮底下的谜团,任何改革,都只是生吞活剥的画饼充


Reform the CFA or Dismiss the CFA

Not a single day passes without some new drama in Chinese football, the only thing that remains the same low competitive level and the mystifying football management talks.

Former Team China manager Camacho’s legal team is still in deadlock with CFA for his contract compensation payment,

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John Yan: Dalian Wanda’s disastrous football sponsorship 赔了夫人又折兵的足球赞助

赔了夫人又折兵的足球赞助

卡马乔悄悄地走了,正如他悄悄地来。他连衣袖都懒得挥一下,因为他腋下汗渍惊人,更因为他可以轻松卷走645万欧元。

卡马乔连临别赠言都没有,因为他压根就没有”临别”过。输给泰国青年队后,卡马乔回到了西班牙,和中国足协所谓”双方同意结束合作关系”后,他的律师7月1日来到北京,轻松利落地拿下未来一年半卡马乔和他教练团队全额薪资——这是国内媒体的报道。中国足协连一个官员都没有出面和对方律师面谈,只是派出了三个律师,其中一人为中国足协工作人员。大连万达集团代表石雪清也参加了会谈。

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John Yan: 国足未到选帅时 Lippi the next head coach for Team China?

当那三封道歉信出现时,我小小地惊诧了一下。大致浏览了署名中国足协的那一封,其他两封不看也罢。

新闻客户端的推送功能,让我知道有这三封道歉信的出现,可见网易移动内容的同事,还确实在继续关注着国足消息,道歉信也上升到了”重点新闻”的级别。只是”615耻辱”已经过去了9天,为什么到了6月24日才有了道歉信?为什么道歉信一出现就是三封?

最紧要的是,为什么道歉信的口吻,仍然不能”说人话”?

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