The Chinese Football Association's penalty notice pulled out the scandal of players being owed wages, and how United Kingdom football solved this problem
The recent anti-corruption storm in Chinese football has once again pushed the issue of unpaid wages to the forefront. Forty-three players were banned for life, and 17 were banned for five years, a staggering punishment. What's even more thought-provoking is that behind these players' reckless and risk-fixing gambling is an unbearable pressure to survive. Some of them, with an annual salary of only a few tens of thousands of yuan, live in poverty and find it difficult to maintain a basic livelihood.
Turning our gaze to United Kingdom, the birthplace of modern football, we find that they have taken very different approaches to similar problems. The United Kingdom FA has set up dedicated bodies, such as the Player Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Committee, to coordinate and resolve player transfer and treatment issues. More importantly, United Kingdom has a strong players' union, as a player self-governing organization, which can negotiate with the management to protect the legitimate rights and interests of players when their interests are damaged.
In contrast, there are very few similar players' unions in China's professional football clubs. When faced with problems such as arrears of wages from clubs, players often lack effective channels to defend their rights, so they can only endure in silence, and are even forced to choose to take risks.
The success of United Kingdom football, in addition to the perfect institutional guarantee, lies in a contract spirit that goes deep into the bone marrow. Both the FA and the club take the rules for granted and put that spirit into practice. For example, even when revenues plummeted during the pandemic, the FA kept its promise and paid the full prize money to its players.
On the other hand, in Chinese football, the awareness of rules is weak, the cost of violation is low, and some clubs even regard violations as a "shortcut". In this environment, it is difficult to protect the rights and interests of players, and phenomena such as match-fixing and gambling will also spread.
In order for Chinese football to get out of the predicament, it cannot only rely on a temporary "storm" rectification, but also needs to establish a sound institutional system and cultivate a contractual spirit of respecting rules. Only in this way can we fundamentally put an end to chaos and put Chinese football on the track of healthy development.
What are your thoughts on the current state and future of football in China? How do you think Chinese football should learn from United Kingdom's football? Feel free to leave a message in the comment area and share your views.