On August 22, 2019, 63-year-old former chairman of SIPG Chen Jiayuan became the new chairman of the Chinese Football Association.
Not long before he was elected president of the Football Association, at the internal mobilization meeting of Shanghai SIPG Football Club, Chen Jiayuan once said the following: "I sincerely warn all players here that football is a noble sport, and do not let money be tarnished and distorted." If money is put first, there will be no future in a career, and the true backbone of a person is faith and ideals. ”
At 20 o'clock on February 14, the website of the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision issued a notice that Chen Jiayuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association and deputy secretary of the Party Committee, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently under review and investigation by the discipline inspection and supervision team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission stationed in the State General Administration of Sport and the Hubei Provincial Supervision Commission.
What about the "beliefs and ideals" that were once spoken of?
Photo: Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision
The first full-time president of the Football Association
In 2015, the Chinese Football Association was officially "decoupled" from the State General Administration of Sports, and the former football management center no longer existed, but the State General Administration of Sports still continued to send high-level leading cadres to the Football Association. This move has caused criticism from the outside world, believing that the football association has not really achieved "de-administrativeization".
Chen Jiayuan is very different from previous presidents of the Chinese Football Association, he is not only the first president of the football association in history who is not from the sports system, but also the first full-time president.
Therefore, Chen Jiayuan's appointment is also considered to be a big move in the reform of the Football Association.
Relevant sources told China Newsweek that the final appointment of Chen Jiayuan is for the overall development of Chinese football, including not only the impact of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but also mass football, campus football, football youth training and other aspects, aiming to systematically and comprehensively upgrade Chinese football.
Chen Jiayuan joined the work in 1973, from a silent dock worker, to become the chairman of SIPG, the experience can be described as inspirational.
Only the fledgling Chen Chinese Jiayuan started as a dock worker, and because of his love of literature, he published a lot of poetry and prose in the internal journal of the unit under a pseudonym. A few years later, the literary atmosphere in his bones helped him change to an office secretary at the age of 23, and two years later, he was transferred to the Youth League Committee of the Shanghai Port Authority and took up a management position.
During his tenure, Chen participated in the construction of the Yangshan Deep Water Port, which is known as the modern version of "Jingwei Reclamation", which is the most important achievement of his football career.
In 2014, SIPG acquired Shanghai East Asia Football Club for nearly 200 million yuan and changed its name to Shanghai SIPG Football Club, hiring Swedish coach Eriksson as the team's head coach.
In the years since, Shanghai SIPG Football Club has become a powerhouse to be reckoned with in the Chinese Super League. In 2018, Shanghai SIPG Club won the Chinese Super League championship and won the first Vulcan Cup in the team's history. In February of the following year, Shanghai SIPG defeated Beijing Guoan to win the team's first Super Cup in history.
Chen Jiayuan (first from left) leads Shanghai SIPG to become a Chinese Super League powerhouse Photo/Visual China
After winning the Chinese Super League championship at Shanghai SIPG Football Club, Chen released Wu Lei, the absolute core athlete of the team who had just won the Chinese Super League Golden Boot Award, to La Liga club Espanyol. He once said that allowing outstanding Chinese players to experience and grow on the international stage is beneficial to the future development of Chinese football.
According to Shanghai media reports, when Chen Jiayuan first received the "olive branch" thrown by the Football Association, he was reluctant to leave the SIPG Group, which he had devoted 46 years to.
However, in May 2019, he still took over the appointment letter of the Football Association and stood as the head of the preparatory team for the change as scheduled.
After becoming the chairman of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Jiayuan once said in front of CCTV's camera, "I have been a person who has put forward a lot of opinions to the Chinese Football Association before, and I think Chinese football should not be like this." ”
"The mission I have given to myself by the Football Association is how to recognize and understand the law of Chinese football development, to deeply learn and understand what good things are in European countries and football development countries, and how these good things are applied to Chinese football." To find something that conforms to the trend of world football development and the actual law of Chinese football development, we cannot say that we have fully recognized or found the law of Chinese football development now, but this problem must be solved. Chen Jiayuan said.
Three years in office, bold and bold
In 2019, the first "big thing" Chen Jiayuan did when he took office was the cancellation of charter flights for the national football team to go out for matches.
Previously, whenever the national football team encountered away matches, the football association chose to charter flights to avoid the impact of the car on the players. In September, after Chen Jiayuan took office, the national football team will participate in the Maldives to participate in the opening match of the Asian Zone Top 40 of the Qatar World Cup.
This time, under the strong initiative of Chen Jiayuan, the Football Association did not arrange a special plane for the national football team, but communicated with relevant departments to temporarily open a flight between Guangzhou and the Maldives.
This move was unanimously praised by fans, who believed that the national football team had excellent conditions but often did not achieve satisfactory results.
Chen Jiayuan Photo/Visual China
In the following six months, Chen Jiayuan made structural adjustments within the Football Association, compared with the previous one, the adjusted Chinese Football Association department was reduced by half, and the new structure mainly included the national team management department, the big competition department, the marketing department, the technology department, the men's and women's football youth training department, the media public relations department and other departments. One of the most interesting is the re-integration of the management departments of the three divisions, the competition department, the registration department, the access department and the referee committee together to form the grand competition department, which is intended to pave the way for the establishment of the professional league council.
After the re-division of labor, Chen Jiayuan is in charge of the national team management department, and expects the national football team to impact the success of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
For Chen Jiayuan, being in charge of the national team cannot avoid two problems, the first is the player, and the second is the head coach.
As early as 2015, the State General Administration of Sports and the Chinese Football Association communicated with relevant departments about the issue of naturalization. In 2016, when the famous coach Lippi was in charge of the national football coach, he once again put forward the request for naturalized players, and since 2019, when Beijing Guoan Club officially announced that Hou Yongyong joined and naturalized in China, naturalized players are no longer a secret.
In May of the same year, Beijing Guoan player Li Ke became the first naturalized international footballer. Subsequently, Jiang Guangtai, Exxon, Alan, Luo Guofu, Fernando and others were naturalized and became internationals.
Before joining the Football Association, Chen Jiayuan publicly stated that he did not approve of the introduction of naturalized players, and said that "Chinese football cannot take shortcuts".
However, after becoming the president of the Football Association, Chen Jiayuan said frankly that in the face of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the existing national team does not have the ability to ensure entry into the World Cup at the technical level.
Chen Jiayuan said frankly that his head also changed after his position changed. "After I arrived at the Football Association, I found that the pressure on Chinese football is far greater than when I was at the club, and I am now facing the expectations of Chinese football from fans across the country, everyone hopes that Chinese football can enter the World Cup again, to fight for this possibility, it is necessary to allocate resources to complete this goal, otherwise this goal is empty, but I think naturalized players will not become the norm, nor will they be the dominant force, but the core force."
In this way, a group of naturalized players entered the national football squad and indeed reflected their value in the World Cup Asian Top 40.
However, with the change of coaches and the use of naturalized players, the two coaches have completely different views.
In January 2019, the national football team lost 3-0 to Iran in the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and the then national football coach Lippi announced his resignation after the match.
While speculating about who will join the national football team as coaches with Chinese Super League experience, such as Scolari and Olaroyo, the Football Association announced in May 2019 that Lippi would return to the national football team and lead the team to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
After Lippi "entered the palace", Chen Jiayuan said that he had done a lot of communication with the Football Association and the Lippi team.
"Throughout the preparation of the national team, the role of the Football Association is to communicate successfully with the head coach, who is mainly responsible for fighting, will discuss after the battle, we will encourage if we win, we will sum up the lessons learned if we lose, and we will not push the door of the dressing room in order to play better next time." Chen Jiayuan said.
But in fact, Lippi's second time leading the national team was still not smooth, both in the selection of players and the roster, there was huge resistance.
In November 2019, during the November 2019 World Cup Asian Zone match against Syria, a low-level mistake allowed his opponent to easily take away the victory, and in the post-match press conference, Lippi once again said that he would not do it.
Subsequently, Li Tie, who Chen Jiayuan strongly supported the position of national football manager, was greatly criticized on the issue of how to use naturalized players, and now, Li Tie has been taken away for investigation for almost 100 days.
Li Xiaopeng became Chen Jiayuan's third national football coach under his tenure, and many sources said that Serbian Jankovic will succeed Li Xiaopeng as the next national football manager.
This World Cup cycle passed like this.
League level, cliff-like slide
If the national football team did not participate in the World Cup, it was expected, the Chinese Super League, which once prided itself on being the sixth largest league in the world, the speed and magnitude of the decline were indeed unexpected.
In order to limit the club's blind investment and excessive salary, as early as 2018, the relevant meeting held by the Chinese Football Association introduced the maximum amount invested by the club every year for the next three seasons.
After Chen Jiayuan took office, the policy issued by the Chinese Football Association at the end of 2020 is that starting from the 2021 season, the total expenditure ("investment cap") of the Chinese Super League, China A and China B clubs in a single financial year shall not exceed 600 million yuan, 200 million yuan and 50 million yuan respectively in the next three seasons. In terms of the highest annual salary before tax ("salary cap"), local players in the Chinese Super League and China League A are 5 million yuan and 3 million yuan respectively, foreign aid is 3 million euros and 1.5 million euros respectively, Chinese B players are 1.2 million yuan, and U21 players are 300,000 yuan.
Chen Jiayuan once said, "The investment of Chinese Super League clubs is generally 7800 million yuan per year, or even more than 100 or 200 million, which is the only case in the world." The Chinese Super League clubs invest three times as much as the Japanese league, and the wages of Chinese players are 10 times the average salary of Japanese players. ”
The strict salary limit system has made the "false fire" of Golden Yuan football begin to gradually dissipate, and directly lead to the retreat of big-name foreign aid.
What really put Chen Jiayuan into turmoil was the "neutral name" policy of the Chinese Super League.
Under the strong promotion of Chen Jiayuan, in 2020, the Chinese Football Association officially announced the new policy of neutralizing club names. According to the policy, the neutral club name shall not contain the trade name, trade name or brand name of the club's shareholders, shareholders' affiliates or actual controllers, etc., and the new club name should be healthy and civilized, reflecting the regional traditional culture, humanistic spirit and club philosophy. Under the influence of the New Deal, many old and strong teams are facing name changes.
With salary cuts and neutral names, as well as the historical baggage of the Golden Yuan football era, the market value of the Chinese Super League teams has further declined, and some unsustainable teams have even disbanded and withdrawn, including Jiangsu, the winner of the new Chinese Super League championship. At the same time, the withdrawal of sponsors also made Chen feel troubled.
What really broke the Chinese Super League was the sudden epidemic, which was obviously unpredictable by Chen Jiayuan when he took office.
If before the outbreak, clubs faced more operational pressures, during the pandemic, clubs faced survival problems.
Losing home and away games, losing spectators, losing important foreign aid, losing a lot of matches and overseas training opportunities, the level of competition and viewing of the Chinese Super League has been greatly reduced.
In the eyes of many insiders, the decline in the level of professional leagues directly affected the competitive level of athletes of the appropriate cycle of the Qatar World Cup, and eventually missed the World Cup, and even lost to Vietnam.
After missing the competition, Chinese football's reputation continued to decline like the world ranking, and when it was officially announced that Li Tie was taken away for investigation, the public opinion environment of Chinese football has dropped to freezing point.
There are more and more verbal criticisms against Chen Jiayuan. Many fans and practitioners believe that Chen Jiayuan should bear full responsibility.
A week ago, the rumor was just debunked
According to people familiar with the matter, during the match of the national football team in the Asian qualifiers of the World Cup, Chen Jiayuan, who traveled with the team, was addicted to playing cards every day, from domestic to West Asia, from cards to mahjong, and the card game was never interrupted.
The images of Chen applauding and bouncing after qualifying for the round of 40 were impressive, but then in the round of 12, he never had that chance again.
On August 25, 2021, Chen Jiayuan traveled to Qatar with the national football team Photo/Visual China
After the national football team missed the World Cup main match, the original coach Li Tie has been taken away to assist in the investigation. There are all indications that a big storm in football is brewing, and many fans and media people have suggested that Chen Jiayuan be investigated.
On January 19, Liu Yi, former secretary general of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Yongliang, former executive deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Football Association and minister of the State Management Department, and others were taken away by relevant departments, indicating that since Li Tie, the former head coach of the national football team, was supervised and investigated on November 26 last year, significant progress has been made in the investigation of serious violations involving football national brands.
On February 7, the Chinese Football Association issued a statement refuting rumors through the official Weibo, and the Football Association said that recently, some online self-media released news that the president of the Chinese Football Association was interviewed by relevant media. It has been confirmed that Chen Jiayuan, president of the Chinese Football Association, has not given any interviews recently, and the relevant reports are false information.
It was a response to a media release of "Chen Jiayuan accepted media interviews to score his work since he became president of the football association".
On the Football Association's website, the latest news about Chen Jiayuan was on February 9, and the report read: "On the afternoon of February 8, Chen Jiayuan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association, sent New Year greetings and blessings to the Chinese national men's football team in Haikou, and exchanged views with all the personnel of the national team around the theme of building a national team that can fight well and has a good work style." ”
Relevant sports media reported that Chen Jiayuan originally planned to participate in the national football conference held in Foshan on the 13th and 14th of this month. During the meeting, the new national football manager is evaluated.
But on February 13, Chen Jiayuan did not show up and could not be contacted. Delegates had to meet without a president of the Football Association.
After the meeting on that day, the staff of the Football Association informed the participants that the meeting the next day was canceled. The league department originally planned to let Chen Jiayuan sign the documents today, but no one was found. Chen Jiayuan became another senior leader of the Football Association who was taken away after Nan Yong.
In 2020, Chen Jiayuan said in order to clarify the regulatory measures, "No matter who the violator is, no matter which club, no matter how big the brand of the club is, it is resolutely ruthless and does not take an example." Do not take chances, once verified, resolutely investigate and deal with it will not be ambiguous. ”
This time, it was his turn.
Author: Hu Kefei