Fabio Cannavaro says Chinese Super League was high quality, ‘but things changed’
- Cannavaro – who says he gave up US$27.9m to leave Guangzhou FC – rues loss of foreign stars from CSL
- Former China national team boss Marcello Lippi warns that country is not ready to host World Cup until team is competitive
Former Guangzhou Evergrande and China national team bosses Fabio Cannavaro and Marcello Lippi have bemoaned the state of Chinese football in recent interviews.
Cannavaro, who left the Guangzhou side last week, spoke to Tencent Sports in a Chinese Super League exit interview, in which the Italian said that he had given up 15 months of salary and bonuses worth up to US$27.9 million to leave the club.
Guangzhou FC – as the club are known since a league rule banned sponsors in team names – are one of a number of clubs undergoing financial crises, theirs stemming from the situation at China Evergrande Group. Last season’s champions Jiangsu FC folded before this season amid financial trouble at owners Suning.
“The CSL was seen as an attractive, quality league back in 2017-18,” said the Fifa World Cup winner, who arrived in China to coach in 2014.
“But then things changed. Clubs were requested to send more young players to the field. Some of these youngsters were not good enough to play in the CSL, but managers had to put them in the games – even for only a few minutes – because that’s the rule of the league.
“These rules grew more complicated later. We can’t deny that the CSL is a great league that has many splendid managers, top players and stands filled with fans in the stadiums. It is a league with great potential.”
Cannavaro leaves Guangzhou FC amid Evergrande crisis
Cannavaro, 48, pointed to the importance of foreign players, such as the Belgium international Axel Witsel who played under him at Tianjin Quanjian.
“Let me give you an example: When Witsel came to play in China, there was no doubt that he wanted to make more money. But he used actions to show how a top professional player should train, play, and eat.
“For young players, he is a role model. Everyone trains hard, hoping to keep up with his rhythm. So I think that the departure of these players will also cause depression in some aspects of the system.”
“The league needs these players to make good examples despite the cost of high salaries,” Cannavaro said. “That‘s why I think the departures of certain players may lead to some recessions in the league.”
Despite the loss of Paulinho and Anderson Talisca – whom he called an English Premier League-level player – Cannavaro said he was proud of bringing through Ty Browning, who is now a China international, and lowering the average age of the squad.
Cannavaro, who said that he left the club because he had not seen his family for 19 months and that he wanted to leave last season, claimed that his Guangzhou side are comparable to European clubs.
No booze, pork or excess body fat key to China’s World Cup hopes
“You can compare the Guangzhou team‘s running data with the European League, including the player’s body fat percentage. I think the Guangzhou team can be regarded as a European professional club level,” he said.
Meanwhile former Guangzhou and Chinese national team boss Marcello Lippi, who was Cannavaro’s coach when Italy won the Fifa World Cup in 2006, has also commented on the state of the game in China.
Speaking to La Nazione in his native Italy the 73-year-old explained the changes he oversaw in Chinese football and how far they still have to go.
“When I arrived, no club had a youth sector, I urged that teams for players aged 12 to 19 be created and football went from a sport seen on TV to a widely-practised discipline.
“However, it is premature to aspire to success with the national team and as long as China is not competitive, it will not be possible to host the World Cup for which it would have stadiums already fully up to it.”
China, now managed by Lippi’s replacement Li Tie, are currently in the midst of their Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers. They are bottom of the group with matches against Vietnam and Saudi Arabia in the current international window.
