Opinion | Chinese football is so often stranger than fiction so why the lies?

Viral story of billionaire owner forcing coach to play his 126kg son was fantasy but there is no need for fabrication

From tattoo bans to hair dye costing games via Party propaganda and the truth of owners playing pro games, the truth is out there

Reading Time:4 minutes

The fake news about Chinese football keeps coming.

Published: 8:00am, 24 May 2021Updated: 8:26am, 24 May 2021

They say a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

No matter the irony that the quote is attributed to Winston Churchill despite no evidence that the British leader ever said it and versions predating him, it was an accurate quote whenever it was made and is more apt now with the internet.

The pants in question could well be XXL football shorts based on what’s happened in the last week with a story – sorry, a lie – about Chinese football.

“Millionaire bought a club and forced to put on his 126-kilogram son,” the TUDN USA Spanish-language Twitter account posted on May 18, linking to their story online from the day before.

A quick aside for the truth: Zibo Cuju’s 35-year-old owner He Shihua came on for the club in the 90th minute of a China League One game against Sichuan Jiuniu on May 4. In 2019, Jilin Baijia’s 33-year-old owner Xu Guangnan played a China League Two game against Xi’an Daxing for his already relegated club.

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