THRILLING END OF SEASON FINALE BREWING OVER IN THE FAR EAST..

Although the standard of football here in China is not the best, there can surely not be a more compelling title race in world football.

Beijing Guo an (my adopted team) are currently leading the table on goal difference from Henan Jianye. But there are only two points separating the top six teams, with three matches left of the campaign.

In a mildly exciting statistic, there is a similar scenario concerning Guo an than that of Liverpool. The seven times champions have not won the 'lian cai' since 1990, however, unlike the Merseysiders they have had several near misses in recent times.

I have become quite a passionate 'qui mi' (fan) of the Peking side over the last six months (glory hunter that I am) and have, on a few occasions headed to Gong ti (The Workers stadium) to watch their games.

What's especially amusing during the games is when the stadium blasts out rock music at the point when supporters begin to chant out abusive words. This is done to prevent the people watching on television from having these vulgar obscenities transmitted into their living rooms.

It certainly brings a smile to the faces of visiting expats such as myself.


There are currently six teams involved in the title race. In addition to Beijing and Jian ye, Tianjin Teda, Shanghai Shenhua, Shandong Luneng and Changchun Yantai are also in contention.

Shandong and Changchun are arguably the two most fluid teams, but Guo an are the team with the least defeats and by far the best goal difference. They also appear to be the team acquiring the most luck as every time they slip up, all the other challengers manage to drop points as well.

With a superior goal difference to Jianye, three wins will almost certainly clinch the title for the team from the capital. Their final league game happens to be on the evening of Halloween, so hopefully there will be no ghosts to exercise next season.


As always, the state of Chinese football is an emotive topic in the People’s Republic.

As I have stated previously, there are many skilful players, but unfortunately, they have a tendency to panic when in possession of the ball.

The goalkeepers are excellent, and the technique of the midfielders and wide players are sound enough. But the finishing of some of the strikers frequently leaves a lot to be desired.

I do to some extent, think that many Chinese coaches under-rate the Chinese players too much and select some of the foreign players in their squad just for the sake of it.

There is such a lack of confidence in the ability of Chinese footballers at the moment, that many coaches just automatically think that any foreigners they have available will be better.

For instance, there are three Australian players in Beijing’s team who I believe are no better than the Chinese players who play in the same position. In fact they are technically far inferior, but seem to play virtually every week.


Several months ago I wrote an article on Chinese football suggesting possible reasons why it is at such a low ebb.

After further research I believe there are several other reasons for it's downfall, including one particularly important factor.

China first entered the World Cup during the qualification stages for the 1982 tournament and were agonisingly close to qualifying.

It took a freak 5-0 victory for New Zealand over Saudi Arabia to eliminate them, when the Kiwi’s needed to win by four goals. It left the nation pulling their hair out in disbelief at such an astonishing turn of events.

In 1986, a victory at home to Hong Kong in Beijing was all that was required, but a surprise 2-1 defeat ensued, resulting in the worst scenes of football violence ever witnessed in China. There has not been in an international match played in the city since.

China have only qualified once for the finals, in 2002. However, that was more down to the fact that Japan and South Korea - the traditional powerhouses of Asian football - qualified automatically as hosts.

China were therefore able to breeze through what would usually be an extremely difficult qualifying process.

The fans were not fooled though. They were fully aware this achievement was not down to their team showing any signs of prowess on the international stage.


The national team has gone even further down the world pecking order since then, and these days, is not even competitive in Asia. It is an eternity way from the heady days of the 1980s.

So what is the main reason for this decline? It's simple – the one child policy (and quite possibly the two child policy that preceded it).

Now let's get something straight here, I'm not giving a view on whether this policy is correct or not in a social sense, but it is certainly a major reason why the football team has had such poor results.

Before 1975, families could have more than two children, and many couples had half a dozen children or more.

But in the last two decades the single offspring (girl or boy) has been expected to study hard at school, go to university (often studying subjects that their parents want them to study) and earn a good salary so they are able to take care of their parents when they get older.

Before the mid 1970s, it was a totally different scenario and this generation of children included the Chinese footballers who helped the national team peak in the 1980s.

Players born in the late 1950s and early 1960s were largely from big families and were able to take a risk and exercise their talents on the football field. And it would be left to the other siblings to study attentively and, if possible, achieve on an academic level.

Nowadays with only one child there is hardly any chance of this happening at all. Study and security is the number one priority. The risk involved in becoming a footballer is something frowned upon in Chinese society.


In a recent change of policy it is now possible for two children from the one child generation to marry and have two offspring. This is a welcome social change, but whether or not it can improve the fortunes of the Chinese football team is yet to be seen.

Perhaps though, it just offers that little ray of sunshine that the Chinese public need. After all, they are not asking for world beaters, they just want a team that is not down right embarrassing.