This Day, That Year

On Dec 10, 1993, Shanghai Shenhua Football Club was founded, becoming the country’s first professional club. It was also the start of a new policy of the Chinese Football Association that allowed businesses to purchase and manage soccer clubs.

In 1994, the China professional soccer league was born.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up policy.

Editor’s note:

An item from Aug 25, 1998, in China Daily showed a Beijing Guo’an player scoring a header against Shanghai Shenhua in Beijing.

In recent years, the country’s soccer sector has developed rapidly.

China has ambitions to host the World Cup, and top companies and entrepreneurs have rushed to pick up stakes in foreign clubs and lure foreign players with huge salaries.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, bought a 20 percent stake in Atletico Madrid in 2015. Then China Media Capital bought a 13 percent stake in Manchester City, then Suning picked up Inter Milan. Toymaker Rastar Group’s Hong Kong unit acquired a stake of as much as 56 percent in a Spanish soccer club, Espanyol.

Among the star players lured to China was Argentine forward Carlos Tevez, who reportedly signed a contract valued at $880,000 weekly with Shanghai Shenhua before he returned home earlier this year.

In December 2016, Shanghai SIPG paid $72 million to sign Brazilian midfielder Oscar from Chelsea of the English Premier League.

Plans are reportedly underway to introduce a salary cap to the Chinese Super League, as authorities strive to improve its financial health.