Jiangsu Sainty sees sweet success with first foray in AFC Champions League
Traditional platform of training young talent pays off for club who make first foray into AFC
Big-spending Guangzhou Evergrande have claimed the silverware and Shanghai Shenhua the headlines, but while the Chinese Super League has undergone a financially fuelled transformation over the past two seasons, one club have managed to achieve success the old-fashioned way.
Jiangsu Sainty kick off their first foray into the AFC Champions League on Tuesday with a trip to South Korea to face K-League champions FC Seoul, with qualification for the continental championship marking the latest high point in the Nanjing-based club's development.
Promoted to the Chinese Super League in 2009, the first two seasons saw Jiangsu consolidate their position in the top flight before narrowly missing out on a place in the AFC Champions League last year with a fourth-place finish in 2011.
But rather than just a flash in the pan, 2011 heralded the arrival of a new power in the Chinese game, one that has not lavished money on big-name coaches or fading foreign stars.
"We are a grass-roots team," said one of China's finest soccer exports, 2002 World Cup striker and former Eintracht Frankfurt forward Yang Chen, who works as an assistant coach to the club's manager, Dragan Okuka.
"In my opinion, Evergrande invested a lot of money when Chinese football was at a low point and they've done a lot for Chinese football, but Jiangsu have a different model.