The East Stand

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

From fans being arrested to players not being paid, there are many who would like to forget the season

Bizarre midseason policy changes, red card reactions and goalkeepers up front among oddest instances

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China head coach Marcello Lippi reacts during the loss to Syria that ended his second spell in charge. Photo: Xinhua

Formerly of the South China Morning Post, Jonathan White has written about sport from China for nearly 15 years, and covered the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Fifa World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Published: 9:28am, 11 Dec 2019Updated: 9:31pm, 11 Dec 2019

“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.