Eriksson bemoans lack of playing area for youngsters
Print Edition
Chinese football could struggle to attract youngsters away from table tennis and badminton and needs a home-grown star playing in Europe before it really takes off, ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has said.
President Xi Jinping has high ambitions for football鈥檚 ultimate sleeping giant, including a rumored bid to hold the World Cup 鈥 a tournament which 82nd-ranked China has only reached once before.
Eriksson, now coach of Shanghai SIPG, backed China鈥檚 new plans to raise standards, including training players from an early age and introducing the sport to more schools.
But the well-travelled Swede warned it will take 鈥渟ome years鈥 before any evidence of improvement is apparent.
鈥淭he reason for that is that the grass-roots football is almost non-existent,鈥 Eriksson said. 鈥淭hat is a pity because young people 鈥 boys, girls 鈥 they play badminton, they play ping pong, they play basketball. Football... almost nothing.鈥
Eriksson said Chinese youngsters did not have the access to spaces to play football that children in Europe enjoy, putting them at a disadvantage.
鈥淚f you go to the parks it is always written in Chinese 鈥楧on鈥檛 walk on the grass,鈥濃 he said, before drawing a comparison to London鈥檚 green spaces. 鈥淗yde Park, Regent鈥檚 Park. Saturdays, Sundays. What are people doing there? Playing football.
鈥淭hat is grass-roots football and I think that most of the schools in places like Shanghai they don鈥檛 have any space to play football. Badminton, ping pong and basketball you need very little space.鈥
Even if Chinese youngsters were given opportunities to succeed, they need an aspirational 鈥渂ig star鈥 to make it in England, Spain or Germany, Eriksson said. 鈥淐hina needs a Chinese player playing in Premier League, or La Liga or Bundesliga or somewhere, and who can do it with success.
鈥淭hat is the only way (for football) to be big in this country.鈥
鈥淭he standard of Chinese football is getting better and better,鈥 Eriksson said, praising the CSL which is now the most watched in Asia.
鈥淢ore and more money goes into football clubs. Rich people buying it. Government-owned companies buying football clubs and the money is more and more to buy foreign players and also, big competition to take the best Chinese players.鈥
But when asked if his annual salary was near the reported US$6 million, the Swede laughed, 鈥淣ot at all. I have a good salary, but not at all.鈥
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