Asian football
Chinese football fights corruption
The Chinese Football Association's first major foreign affairs activity since the start of the Chinese New Year was unsuccessful, losing the FIFA Council at the 33rd AFC General Election Congress, and for the first time in history in the next four years (2023-2027), the AFC Executive Committee will be unattended, completely excluded from the decision-making level of Asian football. It can be said that this is an unprecedented defeat encountered by Chinese football since it returned to the AFC family. It is precisely because of this that many people who still care about Chinese football will ask the question "why is this so", and this is actually to some extent the embarrassment that this writer encountered during the interview in Bahrain.
1
An awkward question from the AFC
I arrived in Bahrain two days before the conference, and whether it was to the hotel designated by the AFC delegation, the Gulf Hotel where the AFC officials and staff stayed, and the press center of the conference, I always met some familiar Asian football personalities. After exchanging pleasantries, they were most concerned about the recent anti-corruption campaign in Chinese football. In particular, the former secretary general and the deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Football Association were both taken away, which is simply incomprehensible to outsiders.
Ravi, who is responsible for media affairs at the AFC and is from India, has known this writer for more than 20 years, and he was in charge of dealing with journalists from various countries and regions at the AFC as early as the Virapan era. Although Ravi left during this period, he returned to the AFC and served as secretary to the current president, Salman. After a brief exchange of pleasantries at the news center, Ravi took the initiative to ask about the anti-corruption incident in Chinese football: "What is going on in Chinese football? The secretary general and deputy secretary general of the football association were arrested, is it because of corruption or match-fixing? We were all shocked when we heard the news. I have the impression that several former vice presidents of the Chinese Football Association have been jailed for corruption, and it has only been about 10 years. A staff member of the AFC media department from Central Asia next to Ravi stood on the side and shook his head: "We really can't understand such a situation." ”
Because of the epidemic and Ravi have not seen each other for several years, but this questioning of the meeting really embarrassed the author. So far, the specific circumstances of the case have not been officially announced, so the author cannot give Ravi an exact explanation, and can only be vague: "I heard that it was because of match-fixing, but the specific situation can only wait for the official statement." But then Ravi's statement was even more embarrassing: "Whatever the reason, this has a bad impact on China's image!" Perhaps, this is the fundamental reason why Chinese football has not improved over the years. Whether it is the AFC or other football associations, these behaviors are really abhorrent, this is the biggest cancer affecting the development of football! ”
Not only Ravi, but many people have the same attitude towards the anti-corruption in Chinese football more than 10 years later. At the meeting, the author met another Indian who has worked in the AFC media department for more than 15 years, Chedan, who also expressed his incomprehension and even anger at what happened in Chinese football recently, "This not only affects Chinese football, but also brings shame to Asian football!" Later, Chedan asked the author: "Did you go to the World Cup in Qatar last year?" Is it to interview the Chinese team for the World Cup? Then he burst out laughing mischievously, which made me even more embarrassed.
Michael Cherch, a British journalist based in Hong Kong who mainly covers Asian football and writes for Reuters, quipped: "Well, 20 years ago yes! Then Cherch said: "I have been following Chinese football since Horton coached the Chinese team, and I have been to China countless times, interviewing many people, including Li Tie, the former head coach of the Chinese team, interviewing him when he was an athlete and had a good impression of him." But I can't understand why this happens? How much has China invested in football over the past 10 years? But 10 years later, what is left of Chinese football? I heard that so many clubs are now in debt, so many excellent foreign aid have left, these foreign aid left for financial reasons, of course, there are also the impact of the epidemic, but when Chinese football spent so much money, what is the purpose and starting point of spending money? Do you want to build your own system of Chinese football, or do you just need a beautiful surface result? The original Guangzhou Evergrande spent so much money and won the Asian championship, but in this process, did the Guangzhou team establish its own development system? More than 10 years ago, including three vice presidents of the Chinese Football Association, were imprisoned one after another, but now why are officials at the level of secretary general taken away? ”
"If I were an AFC official, I wouldn't want a representative of the Chinese Football Association to be on the AFC executive committee. Because if something unexpected happens, the reputation and image of the entire AFC will be damaged. If I were an official of another football association, I would not want a representative of the Chinese football association to come in, because it would definitely affect the image of Asian football, and no one would want to see such a scene. And over the years, the overall situation of Asian football has been upward, and Asian teams have performed well in the Qatar World Cup, which makes more people look forward to the future of Asian football. Cherch hypothesized, and his remarks elicited Chedan's nod.
When I was communicating with Cherch, Zidan and others, the AFC vote had not yet been produced. When the final results are revealed, perhaps the remarks of these two have profoundly revealed the important reason why Chinese football encountered "Waterloo" in football foreign affairs activities.
2
Campaigning is not about hard power
Chinese football lost Sun Shan in the AFC general election, which is extremely detrimental to the development of the next few years. Perhaps many people think that this is a normal result, because the realistic level of Chinese football is there, and without "hard power" as a guarantee, it is naturally difficult to win the right to speak. However, based on my experience in covering the AFC Congress over the years, I am afraid that one thing needs to be clear: the success of the election has little to do with "hard power".
When Kozo Tajima, president of the Japan Football Association, and Meshaal, chairman of the Saudi Football Association, were successfully elected, we can say that the level of football in Japan and Saudi Arabia is there, and it is natural to be elected. But South Korean football has reached the World Cup finals for 10 consecutive times and reached the round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar, why did Korean Football Association President Jung Mong-kyu lose his second consecutive election? Four years ago, Zheng Mengkui won only 18 votes in the election of five out of seven FIFA Council members, ranking sixth and not elected; Four years later, with 19 votes, it remains sixth and continues to miss the election. Is this a question of "hard power" or the level of football skills and tactics?
And the president of the Mongolian Football Association, Gombatta, was elected vice president of the AFC East Asia region, is it because Mongolian football is very high? Philippine Football Association President Araneta and Malaysian Football Association President Hamiddin can be elected to the FIFA Council, can it be said that the level of Philippine and Malaysian football is also very high? The Philippines is ranked 134th in the world by FIFA and Malaysia is 145th in the world, far from being comparable to South Korea's 25th in the world and lower than China's 80th in the world, but why can they succeed?
Football diplomacy is no small matter. Because Asian football is a wide range of regions and complex situations, I am afraid that it cannot be truly understood without going deep into it. Four years ago, the Saudi Football Association recommended Vice President Khalid al-Awad to run, and only 12 votes, the last of the seven FIFA council candidates, I am afraid that it is not a matter of "hard power", because the Saudi team has just finished the World Cup in Russia, and although it failed to qualify, it has won at least one game. The real reason may be that before the election, then Saudi Sports Minister Turki "did not see" Salman and was ready to start a new stove, allowing the then president of the Saudi Football Association to run for the president of the AFC and directly confront Salman. Although Saudi Arabia subsequently changed its strategy and asked Romesi, the head of the UAE's General Authority for Sports (similar to China's General Administration of Sports), to run for president of the AFC, the end result was that the Saudis did not participate in the AFC Executive Committee, and the UAE Football Association also did not have a seat on the AFC Executive Committee.
In this case, the Saudi royal family came forward to change the Minister of Sports, also changed the president of the Football Association, communicated and mended the relationship between the Saudi royal family and the Bahraini royal family, and then the Saudi talent was added to the AFC Executive Committee, but the UAE Football Association has not served on the AFC Executive Committee for the past four years. Today, four years later, when Saudi FA President Meshaal ran for office, he suddenly received the highest 40 votes, and Abdullah Janaibi, vice president of the UAE Football Association, was also elected as the executive committee member of the West Asia region with 37 votes. Among them, I am afraid that it is also not a problem of "hard power".
When Zhang Jilong became the acting president of the AFC and had a considerable opportunity to directly run for the post of president of the AFC, it was probably not because of how strong the "hard power" of Chinese football was, after all, the Chinese men's national team had missed the final stage of the qualifying round for three consecutive times after the 2002 World Cup, but because many member associations under the AFC believed that Zhang Jilong had the conditions from every angle and convinced Asian football friends. However, due to various reasons, Zhang Jilong finally gave up announcing his participation in the election.
It is precisely for this reason that China's "football diplomacy" is not simply a matter of high or low level of competition, which is completely different from the domestic "achievement theory of success or failure", so I am afraid that the defeat of this election cannot be simplified. Of course, this does not mean that Chinese football does not need to improve the level of competition, the author wants to express more: Asia is vast, the geopolitical situation is more complicated, the situation in Asian football is relatively complex, we cannot simply use domestic thinking, logic and way of doing things to measure the affairs of the entire Asian football.