Why is the Shanghai women's soccer team willing to "transfuse" the country, even though it is constantly "losing money" on the road ahead?
On September 13, Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain announced that Chinese international player Yang Lina will join the club on loan until June 2023. Since last year, 10 Chinese women's soccer players have gone abroad to study, with Shanghai Shengli Football Club's Nongshang Bank team contributing five players, accounting for more than half of the total.
Tang Jiali, Shen Mengyu, Yang Lina, Yang Shuhui, Zhao Yujie and other core players or potential stars of Shanghai women's soccer team have joined overseas, and another striker Xiao Yuyi is expected to go to Australian clubs.
With the loss of players, the overall strength of the Shanghai women's soccer team has declined, and fluctuations in performance are inevitable. If you focus on improving performance, Shanghai women's soccer team could have refused to release, but the team did not hesitate to support the players bravely stay in the ocean. Why is the Shanghai women's soccer team so unselfishly "keepers", even if it is in the "loss of money" on the road farther and farther?
National interest is paramount to help players study abroad for further education
Behind the Chinese women's soccer team's study abroad boom, there is both a focus on short-term benefits and long-term considerations. In the long term, studying abroad is a key way to improve the comprehensive strength of players, and players are encouraged to be brave enough to study abroad and fight their way through the world, and when they return from their studies, it is the Chinese women's national team that will ultimately benefit. In the short term, the study abroad of these 10 players also points to the 2023 Women's World Cup and Hangzhou Asian Games.
This 10-player study abroad trend is more focused on short-term benefits: players sharpened by a year abroad to improve China's women's soccer strength and ensure World Cup and Asian Games excellence. As China's dominant women's soccer team, Wuhan women's soccer team also let go of two big aces, Wang Frost and Zhang Linyan, the former in the United States to continue to find the feeling of staying in the world, the latter in China's capital-controlled Swiss Grasshopper team to broaden their horizons.
Shanghai Shengli Football Club Farmers and Merchants Bank team did not hesitate to release players to study abroad, mainly from the Chinese women's national team's top-level design and overall operation. Shui Qingxia, the head coach of the Chinese women's national team, strongly supports players to study abroad, "I hope more players go out and see what the outside world is like, so that conceptually there will be a new understanding, both for themselves and the Chinese women's soccer team, are beneficial."
Shui Qingxia was the leader of the Shanghai women's soccer team in the player era; in the coaching era, she worked quietly in the position of assistant coach and head coach. Now Shui Qingxia is in charge of the Chinese women's soccer team, as the mother's family of the Shanghai Agricultural and Commercial Bank of China women's soccer team will naturally be in the study level full support.
Institutional mechanisms to safeguard and relieve worries
In May 2021, FIFA Benchmarking report - Women's football released by FIFA showed that Chinese women's soccer clubs have the highest average annual revenue in the world at $1.1 million.
In comparison, the average salary of women's soccer clubs in Germany is $615,000, in South Korea it is $675,000, and in Japan it is even only $145,000. Looking at all the women's soccer clubs in the world, the average income is 500,000 dollars, 66% of the clubs earn less than 300,000 dollars, and only 13% of the clubs earn more than 1 million dollars. Obviously, the income of Chinese female soccer players is at the forefront of the world.
From 2018 onwards, the Chinese women's soccer team has been given a huge guarantee by virtue of its excellent performance. Not only is there Alipay's 1 billion yuan fund for 10 years, but the training allowances and winning bonuses at the national team level are also very high, and the highest annual salary of Chinese women's international soccer players can reach 2 million yuan before tax. Although it is far from the income of professional players in men's soccer and world men's soccer, but compared to the average income of women's soccer players in the world, it is already considered a high salary.
So why are Chinese women's international soccer players, who earn a lot of money at home, still motivated to stay abroad and make a name for themselves? It is important to know that the salary income of overseas clubs is basically inferior to the domestic. In addition to chasing the dream, the relevant mechanism to ensure indispensable.
Taking the example of players of the Shanghai Agricultural and Commercial Bank team studying abroad, Liu Haiguang, president of the Shanghai Football Association, has revealed that "to encourage players to study abroad, we have a policy guarantee. Very few players whose ownership is still in Shanghai, we will give subsidies to ensure that the income does not fall, so that they can study at ease, bravely pursue their dreams." It is reported that only a very small number of players to enjoy this "treatment", the rest are still brave to go abroad to pursue their dreams, in terms of salary is not too much consideration.
Promoting the transition between the old and the new to safeguard the mission of the All-China Games
Overall, Shanghai Shengli Football Club Agricultural and Commercial Bank of China women's football team dares to release the international players to study abroad, but also has its own bottom line: let go of the exercise of newcomers, to achieve the replacement of the old and the new, the lineup is gradually rejuvenated.
On January 18, 2018, Shanghai Farmers and Merchants Bank signed a contract with Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau and Shanghai Football Association to formally establish Shanghai Farmers and Merchants Bank Women's Football Team. According to the requirements of the Chinese Football Association to neutralize the name, Shanghai Agricultural and Commercial Bank Women's Football Team has been renamed as Shanghai Shengli Football Club Shanghai Agricultural and Commercial Bank Women's Football Team, with the club name harmonized with "Victory".
The title party of the club, Shanghai Agricultural and Commercial Bank of China, puts out 20 million yuan of real money every year to support the Shanghai Women's Football Club as an important carrier to support the development of Shanghai's sports industry and actively fulfill its social responsibilities and obligations. The title party does not participate in the specific affairs of the club, but upholds the concept of "professional people do professional things", "not as the proprietor of the Shanghai Women's Football Club, when the Shanghai Women's Football Club's mother's family".
The core decisions of Shanghai Shengli Football Club need to be reported to the Shanghai Football Association, which also means that when Shanghai women's soccer players study abroad, the decision-makers will give more consideration to the social effect, relatively ignoring the economic benefits. At the same time, professional decision-making is generally more respectful of the laws of soccer, after all, in addition to the national interest is paramount, the quiet realization of the old and new replacement of the Shanghai women's football is good.
Although the short-term results of the Shanghai women's soccer team will inevitably fluctuate, the departure of a group of strong players also means that more powerful young people can get stable opportunities to play. Wang Linlin, just 22 years old, is a young defender for the Shanghai women's soccer team, but has already had an outstanding performance for the Chinese national team. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Wang Siqian, is gradually becoming a starter in the Shanghai women's soccer team.
Earlier this year, 12 young players in the 2003-2004 age group joined the first team of the Shanghai women's soccer team, all of whom were members of the Shanghai U18 women's soccer team that won the championship at the Shaanxi National Games. Among them, Yin Lihong, a striker at the age of 18, is the youngest batch of players in the first team, and is the youngest goal-scorer in this year's league, which is regarded as very promising. The addition of a large number of young blood to the first team reflects the results of the Shanghai women's soccer talent reserves, but they are still "semi-finished products", they still need to be practiced in the actual battle, the fans also need to give tolerance. In the long run, once the young players grow through the actual battle, after the Games, Tang Jiali and other core players return to play on behalf of Shanghai, the veteran's experience, newcomers will realize the perfect combination of impetus.
Shanghai Shengli Football Club, a person confessed that a number of absolute main force to leave, short-term certainly affect the team's performance, but in the long run, can also promote the new and old. Shanghai Football Association, a person is of the view that: "stay in the Shanghai players, by the time they have to come back to play the National Games, which eliminates the worries of the local football association, and then in the future more support for the players to stay in the ocean."
Chinese women's soccer "stay in the ocean" players at a glance:
Wang Frost - Louisville Athletic USA
Carrie Tang - CFF Madrid, Spain
Li Mengwen - Paris Saint-Germain, France
Lena Yang - Paris Saint-Germain, France
Zhang Linyan - Grasshopper Switzerland
Shen Mengyu - Scottish Celtic
Monroe Shen - Scottish Celtic
Zhao Yujie - Danmarkskeu
Yang Shuhui - Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia
Lili Tu - Icelandic FHL (Icelandic Second Division)
