China President Xi Jinping. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese association football clubs have spent the biggest during this year's January transfer window as team owners have all joined to support President Xi Jinping's vision of making the country one of the top players in the sport worldwide.
Daily Mail Online reported that China's top two football divisions, the Chinese Super League and China League One, have already expended a combined €200 million ($216 million) in transfers this month as the European winter window closed on Monday.
The figure is said to be "more than 60 percent higher" than the country's total football transfer expenses in the same period last year.
China.org noted that the top three richest international transfers this winter period were all pulled off by Chinese clubs, namely Brazilian midfielder Ramires from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning for €28 million, the new CSL record, Ivorian striker Gervinho from Roma to Hebei China Fortune for €18 million, and Colombia international Fredy Guarin from Inter Milan to Shanghai Shenhua for €13 million.
There had been some criticisms about this recent huge China football splurging. Some detractors say that club owners are driven by politics more than a pure "love for the Beautiful Game" while others claim that the amount of fees paid are excessive considering that most of the players bought were all way past their primes.
It was also said that "many of the new arrivals are in their late 20s" and that European clubs were just looking to "unload overpaid stars" to happy shoppers.
"There is one new reason for Chinese billionaires to invest in football inside China - to build political capital in uncertain times," said Chinese football book author Rowan Simons.
Xi, who had been a long-time fan of the sport, declared in 2011 when he was still the country's Vice-President that he desired for China "to qualify for, host, and ultimately win a World Cup". Now as the country's President, he is even more enthusiastic about achieving his dream of converting China PR into a world powerhouse soonest.
The report noted that "a 50-point plan" was sanctioned by the Chinese government last year to reach all of Xi's football goals in the given timeline, such as putting up 50,000 football schools in 10 years and making the sport part of the required curriculum in the country's elementary and middle schools.
