Chinese Super League: ‘Crazy’ transfer window redefines football

It’s hard to hear yourself think over the noise – the beat of several drums paces the supporters’ songs which fill the stadium with a cacophonous sound.

Team scarves drape the necks of every fan, and are hoisted high in celebration after a goal. It’s a football match that could be happening anywhere in the world. But this one is notable because it’s happening in China.

Shanghai SIPG is playing Yanbian Fude under lights in the Shanghai Stadium. It’s one of a handful of matches taking place in the Chinese Super League – the country’s top league – which during 2016 has come under increased focus after its clubs spent $296 million in the January-February transfer window.

That’s a 244% increase on 2015, with the biggest deal involving Shakhtar Donetsk forward Alex Teixeira joining Jiangsu Suning for a record €50 million ($56.9 million).

But it’s not just the money that is being spent on acquiring new players. Attendances have steadily risen over the past few seasons and the league has just sold its broadcast rights for the next five years for $1.3 billion, a record sum.

The Evergrande Football School in Qingyuan, Guangdong, is thought to be the biggest of its kind in the world. Built in just 10 months, it cost $185 million.

The 167-acre site has 50 pitches and is home to 2,600 boys and 200 girls who, it is hoped, will star for China in the future.

Parents are paying up to 60,000 yuan ($9,200) a year to send their children here -- slightly more than the average annual wage in China.

A link-up with Real Madrid means that more than 20 Spanish coaches work at the school. Real visited in 2011, when star player Cristiano Ronaldo met pupils in Qingyuan.

"I hope to make it into the national football team and then make it into the Spanish clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid," 14-year-old pupil He Xinjie told CNN.

Sergio Zarco Diaz, who has been coaching in China for four years, runs his sessions at the school alongside a translator. "What we notice is the children are at a high technical level, but the greatest difference is tactically," the Spaniard explains.

A young player eats in the school's canteen. Special chefs have been flown in from the northwestern Xinjiang province to cater for the dietary requirements of the region's Muslim players.

The main football center sits at the heart of the development, like a castle from a Disney film.

The 50 soccer pitches sit alongside basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, a swimming pool and movie theater. The manicured gardens feature more than $30 million worth of trees, in stark contrast to the barren vegetable patches, wooden shacks and potholed roads a few hundred yards away.

Outside the football center's gates is a 40-foot replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy -- a daily reminder of the ultimate goal.

China's quest for world football domination

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One reason for the surge in popularity is the teams are simply better following the arrival of players like Teixeira.

“A lot of excellent players have come over from Brazil, Europe, South America and other countries,” Shanghai SIPG general manager Sui Guoyang told CNN.

“I think they improved the overall level of the league. The better the expat players, the more it will improve the level of domestic players.”

READ MORE: Chinese president’s $300M ‘happiness plan’

The influx of foreign talent, especially within the last year or two, has come at breakneck pace. Players like Asamoah Gyan, who captains Ghana’s national team, and Elkeson, the Brazilian midfielder who used to star in his country’s top league, have signed for SIPG.

Shanghai SIPG team manager Sui Guoyang (left) signed Argentine midfielder Dario Conca in 2015.

“It’s a new challenge, and it was a good proposal to be a part of Chinese football,” said Argentine midfielder Dario Conca, who has played in China since 2011. “I’m really happy with the decision I made.”

‘Absolutely crazy’

It’s easy to be happy when you’re getting paid. Conca makes a reported $11 million per year. His Shanghai SIPG teammate Gyan reportedly earns $300,000 per week, making him among the 10 highest-paid players in the world.

READ: China’s transfer record broken four times

When many of those foreign players arrive, they find themselves playing for foreign managers, like former English national team boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, who coaches the Shanghai SIPG squad.

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson coaches Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League.

“Last (transfer) window, that was absolutely crazy,” said Eriksson, who has coached in China for three years. “(The foreign stars) want to come to China. They’re curious to see what’s happening, they know they will earn very good money, so it will be more and more of them.”

However, only four foreign players are allowed on the pitch at once, so to do well it’s largely the quality of native Chinese players that counts.

READ: Inside China’s $185M football factory

The Chinese government is doing its part to make sure the level of domestic players continues to rise. Some 20,000 football-themed schools will be in operation around the country by 2020, and football is now a mandatory part of school curriculum.

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Published 10:22 PM EDT, Mon May 9, 2016

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Evergrande Football School, a $185 million “soccer factory” in Qingyuan, Guangdong, is at the epicenter of this national push.

It’s part of President Xi Jinping’s push to turn the country into a world football superpower, a herculean task given that China’s national team has only qualified for the World Cup once – in Japan and South Korea in 2002 when it went out in the group stage.

China is ranked 81st in the official FIFA World Rankings, behind minnows such as Cape Verde and Burkina Faso.

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But ask any of the fans in one of Shanghai SIPG’s eight supporters’ clubs, and they say the enthusiasm is there to grow the game in China.

Shanghai SIPG beat Yanbian Fude 3-0, with the home supporters cheering them on under a banner that read “Glory Belongs to Shanghai.”

Whether the glory will ever belong to Chinese soccer as a whole is an open question.

Can China become a soccer superpower? Have your say on CNN FC’s Facebook page

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China aims to become a football superpower by 2050

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