Chinese behind new wave of poaching — in football clubs

CHINESE football clubs splashed out more than $450-million (about R6-billion) in transfer fees last year, a spree that helped global spending on the acquisition of players reach a record high.

According to Fifa’s transfer matching system, the total spent on transfer fees worldwide hit $4.8-billion in 2016, a 14.3% increase over the year before.

The rise is partly explained by the growth of the game in China, which has become the biggestspending nation behind England, Germany, Spain and Italy. Clubs in the Chinese Super League spent $451.3-million on transfer fees in 2016, a 168.2% increase on the year before.

Among recent deals, Shanghai SIPG bought Brazilian midfielder Oscar from Chelsea for $63million. Rival Shanghai Shenhua signed a two-year contract with Argentinian striker Carlos Tévez, in which his salary was reported to be worth more than $20-million a season.

The acquisition of players was just one part of a multibilliondollar surge of investment into Chinese football over the past two years, sparked by President Xi Jinping’s plans to turn China into a great footballing nation.

Chinese companies have acquired or bought stakes in media rights agencies and top European clubs, including Atlético Madrid and Manchester City.

However, Chinese sporting authorities have sought to crack down on spending on players with efforts such as cutting the number of foreign footballers allowed to play in each match from four to three per team.

Since 2010, all clubs have had to record player transfers with Fifa, which said that 14 951 deals were conducted last year, the highest number it has recorded and around 1 000 more than the previous year.

“This is a clear signal that football has become more global than ever,” said Kimberly Morris, acting general manager of Fifa’s transfer matching system.

The English Premier League remains the world’s biggestspending league. English clubs spent $1.37-billion on transfer fees in 2016. This included the world-record signing of Paul Pogba worth up to à110-million (about R1.6-billion), by Manchester United from Italy’s Juventus in August. — © The Financial Times Ltd