The East StandChinese Super League could learn much from K League’s fan-friendly approach, despite soaring crowd numbers

It was “Expat’s Day” at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday, striking a stark contrast between the attitudes of South Korea’s K League and the Chinese Super League. This was the 10th annual Foreigner’s Day held by FC Seoul, where non-Koreans can get a match ticket and a beer for 10,000 won (HK$68). There was also a fan festival in the North Square near the stadium where all fans could take part in various sports and enjoy a concert as a part of a “world culture festival”. Hundreds were there for that, while plenty more were milling around the outskirts going about their normal match-day business, with kids kicking balls about and queues outside the club store. As at every match, the food trucks in the square were doing a roaring trade as fans enjoyed a beer before the match. It was a proper match-day experience and a scene that would not be out of place in most parts of the world. Most parts but China, that is, where the clubs of the Chinese Super League are hardly renowned for their investment in the fan experience. Concessions at grounds in China, if they offer anything at all, consist of a table selling warm soft drinks. Beers generally have to be sneaked past security. The clubs of the Chinese Super League are hardly renowned for their investment in the fan experience It’s a far cry from the Sky Bars in the corners of the World Cup Stadium, where fans can pre-book to enjoy the match with all-you-can-drink beer. Nearly a quarter of South Korea’s 1.67 million expats live in Seoul. Even with discount tickets and free beer, the attendance for Seoul’s game against Ulsan Hyundai was little more than 17,000. In a 66,700-seater stadium that is not ideal. The atmosphere in the North Stand is enviable, though, and the football on show, a 2-2 draw between second and third in the table with a 97th-minute Ulsan equaliser, was a good advert for the league. Even still, people are not turning up. That’s a wider problem in the K League where attendances are generally dropping year on year. Seoul’s average for 2018 was around 11,500 down from just over 16,000 in 2017, which was over 9 per cent down on the year before. Meanwhile, 14 of the 16 CSL teams have average attendances bigger than Seoul’s gate on Sunday and they are generally on the up. That is despite the various obstacles put in the way of football fans and the football itself. Tickets are not always available through official channels and certainly not at the ticket office on match day, while the number of fans allowed to attend is capped by the local authorities rather than the capacity of the stadium. “Security concerns” dictating that a whole end of the stadium is left empty around the away section look ridiculous when the number of away fans can be counted on one hand. Such constraints are the main reason why champions Shanghai SIPG have not capitalised on winning the league and why CSL leaders Beijing Guoan will never be allowed to fill the Workers’ Stadium. Guangzhou Evergrande are a rare exception but other than that the only time China’s stadiums are allowed to be full is when Europe’s big teams come through on their summer tours. It’s time for Chinese football to ask what it wants to be. Right now, it seems they don’t want to build the kind of fan culture that would benefit the game in the long-term. The appetite is clearly there. Why else would attendances be going up in spite of the bother that getting into the game entails? CSL crowds are the sixth highest among football leagues globally and only behind the English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and Ligue 1 in France. Other countries, as South Korea proved on Sunday, would kill for that. The league is not the only one with a question about identity to answer. Chinese football is also haircuts and social media Guangzhou Evergrande’s desire to field an all-Chinese team by 2020 always seemed a lofty ambition but now it looks more likely. The only thing is it might not look like what people pictured when they heard of plans for an all-Chinese starting 11. Former Everton defender Ty Browning is in the process of naturalising, as is former Peru under-21 midfielder Roberto Siucho. Those two, who are naturalising based on Chinese ancestry, are expected to be joined by Ricardo Goulart, the Brazil-born forward who can naturalise and be eligible to play for the Chinese national team based on residency requirements. There are rumours that Goulart may be joined by another couple of Brazilians who have passed or are nearing the five years in China mark: Shanghai SIPG’s Elkeson and Chongqing Lifan’s Fernandinho. That would give Fabio Cannavaro five “Chinese” players for his starting line-up and he’s halfway to meeting the all-Chinese line-up that we’ve been promised. The question that needs answering then is, what’s the point?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} China’s CSL has the sixth biggest average gate in the world, and that number is climbing K League takes a novel approach to attracting diverse cross-section of supporters to match days

China’s CSL has the sixth biggest average gate in the world, and that number is climbing

K League takes a novel approach to attracting diverse cross-section of supporters to match days