There is a football revolution afoot in the Far East. With Didier Drogba the biggest name amongst a host of top quality arrivals in the Chinese Super League, there is plenty of potential for China to finally become a superpower and rival the European and American leagues. As the world's most populous country, home to 1.3billion people, the Asian republic is finally showing ambition to compete at the highest level in the world's most popular sport. Currently ranked only 68th in FIFA's admittedly dubious world ranking system, the Chinese, who have an equally dubious claim to inventing football in the first place, are hoping that the arrival of some global superstars in their domestic league can help improve football in their country from the top down.
The former Chelsea striker Drogba, who left Stamford Bridge after scoring the winning penalty in this year's UEFA Champions League final, is stealing most of the limelight with his arrival at East coast club Shanghai Shenhua, but the revolution is reverberating throughout Chinese football. Reigning champions Guangzhou Evergrande signed Argentine midfielder Dario Conca for £6.4million in July 2011, after he had twice been crowned the Brazilian league's Player of the Year while playing for Fluminense. Conca is just one of several South Americans who have been making the move to China in recent years and he has recently been joined at Evergrande by highly-rated Paraguayan striker Lucas Barrios who cost £6.7million from German champions Borrusia Dortmund. Another South American is the former Argentina boss Sergio Batista who will be managing Drogba at Shenhua after he replaced Frenchman Jean Tigana earlier this year.
As well as South Americans, a whole host of African players have been tempted to the CSL, including Seydou Keita, the 32-year-old Malian midfielder who won two Champions Leagues in his four-year spell at Barcelona before joining Dalian Aerbin. The Nigerian forward Yakubu, who still has plenty to offer at 29, and Fredi Kanoute, another Malian formerly of Spurs and more recently Sevilla, have joined Guangzhou R & F and Beijing Guoan respectively. This large scale arrival of proven talents is drawing the footballing world's eye to China and it will be interesting to see how their clubs fare in the Asian Champions League over the coming years as no Chinese team has won the tournament since 1990 when it was called the Asian Club Championship. However, with Drogba's signature in place, the biggest focus is on Shanghai Shenhua (which means 'the flower of Shanghai') and although the team currently languish in 12th place out of 16 teams, they will be targeting trophies in the near future.
Drogba isn't the only man with English connections at Shenhua as he is linking up with his former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka, who made the move back in December 2011 but has struggled to make a major impact so far. Anelka was asked to be part of the coaching staff towards the end of Jean Tigana's failed regime but has reverted to simply player status under Batista. Interestingly, Anelka's former Bolton Wanderers team-mate Ian Walker, who played many times in the Premier League for Tottenham and Leicester City, as well as appearing for England, joined Shenhua as goalkeeping coach earlier this year. Anelka has since announced his intention to remain at the club until he retires and was clearly pleased with the arrival of Drogba which will take some of the pressure from his shoulders. That pressure lead to an argument with some fans after the Frenchman refused to take part in the traditional Chinese ritual of bowing to the fans at the end of a recent poor performance.
Although the CSL was only founded in 2004 in its current format ( it was previously called the Chinese Jia-A league), Shenhua are yet to win the title, finishing runners-up on three separate occasions. An aspect of the league's rules which should allow for local talent to develop under the influence of the big name superstars is that only five foreigners are permitted per squad, including one from another AFC (Asian Football Confederation) affiliated country. At Shenhua, Drogba and Anelka are joined by Columbian international midfielder Giovanni Moreno, Brazilian defender Moises and erstwhile Australian international forward Joel Griffiths (Australia is part of the AFC) and between they will be expected to lead their Chinese team-mates to success in the coming seasons. The money to fund Shenhua's big name signings has come from controversial chairman Zhu Jun, a Chinese-Irish businessman who has been known to interfere with team matters since his appointment in 2007. Along with the Evergrande Real Estate Group, who are bankrolling Guangzhou Evergrande's investments, Zhu Jun and the Shanghai Media & Entertainment Group and Huangpu Investment Ltd. companies who are at the helm of Shenhua will be looking to Drogba, Barrios and co. to usher in a new era for Chinese football. Only time will tell whether they will succeed.
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