By Zhengxu Wang
If anything, the ongoing World Cup tournament that is exciting fans around the world only serves as a reminder to football fans in China of one of their greatest embarrassment in sports. Whereas the Chinese team had topped the medals table for the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese men’s football team was defeated in the World Cup qualifying games at the Asia group stage in the following year. In fact, in recent years, football has degenerated into such a sorry situation that parents have stopped sending children to football schools or the junior teams of football clubs. Teenagers show very little interest in this sport, a phenomenon that is hard to find in any other country. In a country of 1.3 billion people, the number of registered junior players has dropped from 600,000 in 2000 to only 30,000 in 2007.
The decline of Chinese football is caused by deep institutional factors. Starting from late 2009, there has been a government anti-corruption crackdown on the football industry, which has led to the expose of shocking cases. The top official of the Chinese Football Association was detained for taking bribes, while head coaches and club managers were investigated, implicating current and past football stars. Referees were also involved as some of the award-winning referees proved to be most corrupt. They were found by the police to have taken bribes that sometimes amounted to almost half a million yuan per game (about 73,000 USD).
