Bizarre year for Chinese football: Guangzhou Evergrande rules, Marcello Lippi leaves national team twice and naturalisation sees fans and footballers suffer

“There’s no doubt that this has been a particularly difficult year and I am relieved that this annus horribilis is coming to an end.”

It’s 15 years since UN secretary general Kofi Annan said that about 2004, coincidentally the same year the current iteration of the Chinese Super League was installed.

Much like Queen Elizabeth did before him in 1992 and others have since, there are many in Chinese football that would find Annan’s choice of words fitting for their own 12 months.

That goes for players, fans, managers, media and even those running the game. It’s been quite the year.

It all started with a record 15 red cards being dished out in the first five weeks of the season and a lot of hand-wringing from football’s suits. It got even weirder with claims of hacked social media and death threats after one sending off.

Another player, Wuhan Zall’s Rafael Silva, wrote a handwritten apology after seeing red.

Marcello Lippi was apologetic as he walked away from China for the second time in a year, leaving the CFA with the job of picking a better replacement than the one they chose after Lippi left for the first time after the AFC Asian Cup. Fabio Cannavaro lasted just two games and they came in the same week during the China Cup in March.

The CFA returned to Lippi, who shook things up by giving caps to naturalised footballers. Nico Yennaris made history as the first and he was followed by Elkeson during World Cup qualifiers. The decision sparked debate on whether China should naturalise players based on residency, not all of which was savoury. It also led to rules to ensure the players were “patriotic” enough.

It also did not prevent the national team dropping points to the Philippines and Syria, the latter a loss that saw Lippi walk away from the job after the game.

Lippi’s former club and Cannavaro’s current employers, Evergrande, decided the CFA and CSL did not have enough bizarre rules in place, so came up with some of their own. Aside from putting a limit of two rather than three foreigners (which they later abandoned), they also said they would relegate the worst two players per month to the reserves based on ratings.

Not content with that, they relegated China defender Feng Xioating to the reserves after he was blamed for the mistake that led to Iran’s Mehdi Taremi opening the scoring in their 3-0 win at the AFC Asian Cup, Lippi’s final game before walking away the first time.

They then banned Wei Shihao for a month after he was sent off at the China Cup against Uzbekistan, a tackle which led to a huge backlash on social media.

The CFA changed the rules midseason again, allowing four foreigners for each match-day squad, three starting and one on the bench. They also changed the rules regarding domestic under-23 players.

That change came in response to coaches gaming the initial rule where three under-23s had to feature in a game, with one in the starting line-up.

The first half of the 2019 season had seen substitute goalkeepers sent on as strikers, one player subbed off after just 55 seconds, and in another game a player was brought on, scored the match winner and then substituted off, all within two minutes.

Meanwhile, Guus Hiddink, who was in charge of the national under-21 side ahead of their attempts to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the AFC Asian Under-23 Cup next January, also left his role.

The Dutchman failed at the Toulon Tournament, where China finished eighth, and in a three-team tournament against North Korea and Vietnam. They have not appeared at the Olympics since 2008 in Beijing.

Six Beijing Guoan fans were arrested for walking to a football match. Langfang police’s Weibo account confirmed the fans were detained for between six and 15 days for disturbance of public order and hindering police doing their duties, among other charges. Limits on tickets based on where fans had their household registration and facial recognition also added to the “fan experience” in the CSL this season.

The managerial merry go-round was not much better. Beijing Guoan got rid of Roger Schmidt with the club in second place, which was also where they finished. He was not the only one to get his marching orders. At least they got a pay-off.

Plenty of players in the lower leagues went unpaid, while several clubs folded entirely. There may be worse to come, given the expansion of the lower leagues that is set for coming seasons.

There are also reports that all domestic players, including those who have naturalised as Chinese, will have to sign new contracts as the CFA introduces new salary restrictions ahead of next season. Anyone who refuses or tries to sue will be banned from being registered.

It’s been quite the season and there is the feeling the grass is always greener elsewhere. Not at Wuhan Zall, though, where they painted the pitch green to make it look playable.

The worry for Chinese football is that, as Annan and the queen found, there is worse yet to come.