Society

Soccer insider: China 10 years behind South Korea, Japan

By Nie Ligao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-26 15:52

China’s top four soccer teams deserved their defeats against their four rivals from South Korea, a renowned soccer commentator wrote in his blog at Sina.com after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions matches.

Li Chengpeng, a critic and writer, has gained prestige for his sharp comments and disclosure of rampant corruption and scandals in the Chinese domestic leagues.

"Chinese teams deserve the 0-4 failures and the Chinese national team's victory during the East Asian Football Championship against South Korea is totally an accident," he wrote.

The commentator pointed out that Chinese market-oriented football was fake, so one win didn't mean anything. Nor was it a so-called breakthrough of the jinx regarding South Korea.

"I still believe that football in China is 10 years behind South Korea or Japan."

China recently launched an anti-corruption campaign and several top soccer officials have been detained or are under investigation. The Chinese soccer league system and its administrative body are major targets of the campaign, and believed to be responsible for Chinese soccer’s current plight.