OpinionScoring goals and saving face: why world football needs to get to grips with China’s culture

In a recent English Premier League football game at Stamford Bridge in London, Spanish international Cesc Fabregas scored a goal for the home team Chelsea against one of his former clubs, Arsenal. Aside from the quality of Fabregas’ goal, the most notable feature of it was that he refused to celebrate in front of Arsenal fans with whom he had previously had a good relationship.

This led one newspaper columnist in England to exclaim that Fabregas’ conduct was “one of the most loathsome sights in football. Fifa ought to have signed an executive order banning it years ago, or a Football Association sub-committee granted presidential authority to stamp out this most devious act. Former players who choose not to celebrate scoring against their old club. They are pests – a stain on the game.”

Perhaps; although Fabregas may have unwittingly marked himself out as a potential future signing for a Chinese Super League club. What he did was something that many people in China may have found admirable or, possibly, just normal. Indeed, what the Anglo-centric rant of an English columnist has done is yet again accentuate some of the cultural differences between Europe and China, which those who have a stake in football should understand.

His club issued a statement after the dismissal which said, “Qinsheng [will be] asked to make a public apology in front of the whole team and he will report to the reserve team and train with them from today ... taking his attitude and future behaviour into consideration, the club will cut his salary to a certain extent.”