Mar 21
A busy week began for David Beckham, who was recently appointed as Chinese football’s first-ever ambassador, at an elementary school yesterday in Beijing. The former England captain received gifts from schoolgirls, learned to write his nickname in Chinese calligraphy, and talked to media at a press conference in the school auditorium that was aired live on CCTV, the national broadcaster.
FC Barcelona, the club who plays the most beautiful football in the world, is building its success in China, and they're approaching the market in a way that no other club has done before.
Last month, Sandro Rosell, Barça's new president, was traveling in China with his colleagues. Unlike others, their trip was not about friendly games or cooperation with local clubs, but laying down guanxi with Chinese politicians and clenching a business deal with a giant Internet firm.
Chinese football hit a new low on June 23 as the national U-23 squad were beaten 1-3 in Muscat by their Omanian peers and lost 1-4 on aggregate in 2012 London Olympic Games qualifiers. The defeat marks not only the most short-lived U-23 team in the history of Chinese football, but also could make Miroslav Blažević, the acclaimed Croat coach, the most short-serving national team manager since the Communist Revolution after only two competitive matches of coaching.
Inter Milan’s 3-1 victory over Serie A counterpart Palermo has filled the final spot for the other participant in this summer’s Italian Super Cup, which will be returning to Beijing. This year’s curtain-raiser to the 2011/12 Serie A season is going to be a treat for Chinese supporters of Italian football as this season’s champion AC Milan will take on their eternal rivals for the first time on the Asian continent.
The Milan derby has always been one of the most highly charged and most anticipated matches on the Serie A schedule. The history between the two Italian giants reads like a movie with action, drama, comedy and suspense all rolled into one. If Halley’s Comet is only visible from earth every 75 years, then Chinese supporters will be in for a treat this summer for this is one of the rarest events to occur outside of Italy.
Nov 1
According to Yangtze Evening News, a Nanjing paper, penis size is now a barometer in selecting young players at Tianjin Locomotive Football Club. Looking at a boy's penis size and shape can give you an idea of his hormone level, revealed a senior staffer of the club. Boys with short, thick genitals and tight scrotum are good for football playing. 囧
When Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger visited Beijing last summer, there was one question in his mind. At a press conference, he asked the moderator, Huang Jianxiang, a well-known local football commentator, why China, with so many people, lacked a first-rate football team.
The question was laughed off by the commentator, who replied that it was because “We never had a coach like you.”
I was overly optimistic towards the future of Chinese football players. Though this year saw a few of them found jobs outside the country, almost all footballers still find their rights trampled by the country's backward transfer rules.
As the transfer window reopened by Chinese FA on June 25, 121 players from 29 football clubs have been transfer listed and 13 others are listed as available for loan. A majority of them, if not all, are fringe players who haven't played first-team football for a long time.
Italian tyre maker Pirelli becomes the new CSL title sponsor this Friday after signing a three-year sponsorship deal with Chinese Football Association. "We're satisfied with Pirelli's offer and their brand will help boost CSL's image," said Zhang Lu, vice president of Beijing Guo'an club, who helped facilitate the deal. The deal was reportedly worth 5 million euros (US $ 6.78 million) yearly but details remain undisclosed by the two parties.
Priced at 1 RMB ($ 0.15 USD), China Soccer is published every Tuesday covering mostly about Chinese football. The weekly was first published 15 years ago back in 1994, exactly the same year when China kicked off its professional football league. It enjoyed solid readership growth to about 400,000 people in the mid 1990s, when the Chinese Football Association Jia League was at its best.
China's FA told media on Feb. 13 that CCTV, the country's main TV broadcaster, will continue to air Chinese Super League (CSL) in 2009, after a 3-match ban since the 28 round of the 2008 Season. In an interview with a Chinese sports journal last November , Jiang Heping, the head of CCTV's sports channel accused players of lacking "professional ethics", and decided to cut all reporting related with the league since then
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