Footballers forced to attend ‘ military’ camp

Beijing: Open dissent has broken out in Chinese football over a plan to spirit 55 players away to a militarystyle national training camp at a critical point in the season. The domestic under- 25 players will have more than two months of intensive football training stretching into late December, state media said.

The unusual plan means the players will not be involved in the run- up to the end of the Chinese Super League season in November, underlining the country’s desperation to improve its national team.

The Beijing Evening News called it “unprecedented” and said the camp will involve “military training”.

“In several previous warmup matches, some of the national team were criticised for not working hard and having no sense of honour,” the newspaper said.

But the move was immediately denounced by fans, with some even going as far as to call it the death of football in China.

Zhou Jinhui, chairman of CSL title- chasers Beijing Guoan, criticised the plan in unusually forthright terms.

Zhou, who has seen his side’s CSL challenge falter in recent weeks, was quoted by Chinese media as accusing the Chinese Football Association of making “repeated mistakes”.

“I believe most people know that the root cause of Chinese football’s problems still lie in the management system,” he reportedly wrote on social media.

“The only way to develop Chinese football is to change the existing management system.”