The East Stand | Fifa must stop ignoring Chinese government interference in football – things will only get worse
- Fifa president Gianni Infantino turning a blind eye to the meddling going on at home of his latest World Cup sponsors
- Chinese Football Association ceding power to General Administration of Sport despite Fifa rules
Something pedants never tire of telling you is there are no rules in football, only the “Laws of the Game”. While that’s true of what referees enforce on the pitch, off the pitch is an entirely different matter and nowhere more so than China, where the rules regarding football make for constantly moving goalposts
This season is no different than any other. If anything it is set to be worse still.
Naturalisation seemed like a positive step. It was certainly bold to allow players with Chinese ancestry to claim citizenship and be eligible as domestic players. It came as little shock that limits were imposed after the fact – one player registered per team for the start of the season – but nevertheless history was made in the Chinese Super Cup when Norwegian born John Hou Saeter (aka Hou Yongyong) came on as a sub for Beijing Guoan.
By the end of the week, it appeared his teammate Nico Yannaris had also been cleared to play as a naturalised player for the club’s visit to Wuhan Zall on Friday night. But then came another twist, journalists leaking reports that no naturalised player would be eligible for the opening two rounds of fixtures, and so it was none played on Friday. A dramatic volte-face and one without an official announcement.