In September 2018, Cai Zhenhua stepped down as deputy director of the General Administration of Sport of China, exactly one year before he bid farewell to the Chinese soccer world, a new policy aimed at developing young players quietly came out.
Since the 2017 season, the CFA has issued a rule requiring "at least one player under the age of 23 to play in every match."
At the beginning of the season, teams had a muted reaction to this. However, with the opening of the summer transfer window, unlike in the past, teams have become exceptionally low-key in the introduction of foreign aid, almost no heavy introduction of internal and external aid, but rather, replenishment of young players required by the Football Association as a top priority.
"At the age of 23," it has become a turning point in the careers of young Chinese players.
Guangzhou Evergrande abandoned the domestic market and brought in young players Feng Boxuan, Deng Yubiao and Wu Xiang from the lower Portuguese leagues; Beijing Guoan signed Ning Weichen; and Shandong Luneng brought in Wei Jingzong.
Whenever the word "Portugal" comes up frequently in the transfer window, people not only focus on the huge number of Chinese players studying abroad, but also wonder why they are so compliant with the policy.
The introduction of the new policy of the Football Association, almost overnight, so that many clubs into a shortage of young players in the predicament, the supply and demand relationship in the player market is instantly out of balance, the social status of the age of the players and the subsequent rise of the boat.
At this point, if any agency has a large number of players of age, they can pretty much sit back and enjoy the ride.
As it happens, one agency did have numerous players of age on hand at the time.
National Youth Black Gold
In 2016, Li Ming, then head coach of the 97 National Youth Football League, exclaimed in front of the media that "there is no one to blame" after the loss at the Asian Youth Championship. What he did not dare to admit, however, was the sudden appearance of many unheralded players in the national youth team that participated in the Asian Youth Championships at the time, most of whom came from Portuguese third- and fourth-division teams such as Gondomar and Guimarães.
During his tenure as National Youth coach, Li Ming had vigorously recruited players from Starlight Hopscotch. After Li Ming's dismissal, half of the National Youth Team players were eliminated.
After Li Ming's departure, Sun Jihai took over the 97-year-old Olympic selection team and later became Hiddink's assistant coach. During his time as Hiddink's assistant, Sun Jihai had already been running a youth training program in Xinjiang led by Xinghui Hesheng.
At the time, Hiddink was almost hollowed out. During his time in charge of the Olympics, there were often seven or eight Starburst Hopscotch players on the field. The team's record soared and was invincible.
Hao Wei took over the team and took three StarHub players, Yang Liyu, Huang Cong and Zhang Lingfeng, and assembled the Asian Cup squad.
In addition to Yan Dinghao and Shan Huanhuan could not play due to injury, the former coach Wu Wei, Li Yang, Zhang Yuan, Lin Liangming, Yao Daogang brought "Xinghui Hesheng system" players were eliminated by Hao Wei, replaced by Luneng youth training players.
This has almost become a "generation of the son of a court" a true portrayal of Chinese soccer is really no one available, this is the most difficult to solve the puzzle behind the national youth black gold deal.
Wade-Giles era
During Wedi's time at the helm, StarHub began working closely with the Football Association. One of the company's masterpieces was finding Coach Rick Rink for the Nine-Thirds.
In August 2011, Wei Di took office as director of the Football Management Center, officially launched the "Youth Study in Portugal" program, and promoted it as a key project.
At the time, there were two agents in charge of the matter. One was Qingdao agent Chen Qi, who was also behind Dabao joining Benfica. The other was Guo Feng, the younger brother of Guo Hui, head of the youth department of the FA, who later became the owner of StarHub.
In 2013, Weidi left Chinese soccer, "stay in Portugal plan" unfinished.
Some of the players who stayed in Portugal broke away from the control of their original clubs and the Football Association and were recovered by Xinghui Hesheng, which gradually kicked off the export to domestic sales of Chinese soccer.
When a steady stream of Starlight players are sent to the National Youth and Olympic Games, when Rieklink steps down, they still get to be the national junior coaches; when people close to Starlight continue to serve as national coaches; and when the FA's policies help Starlight hoard players of the right age to make a killing at the peak.
In Chinese soccer, this seems to be a man-made disaster.
The Death of the New Deal
When the new FA policy was introduced in 2017, Lippi used only two players under the age of 23, Zhang Yuning and Deng Hanwen, in the remaining five matches of the Top 12. Zhang Yuning was abroad at the time, while Deng Hanwen had become a starter for Guizhou Renhe before the new policy was introduced.
For the 2019 Asian Cup, Lippi did not bring any players under the age of 23, with only Liu Yang, Liu Yiming and Wei Shihao on the roster.
Wei Shihao had not yet joined Evergrande at that time, nor had he played for Hong Kong or Guoan. Liu Yiming was already the main center back for Tianjin Quanjian before the policy was introduced. Only Liu Yang may enter the national team due to the new policy.
In the six years since the FA's new policy was implemented, the national team's record has been just as bad.
In October 2018, Sung Yiu Tung led the Kowloon National Youth Football League (KNYF) to two consecutive losses at the Asian Youth Championships, with only an inconsequential win in the final round of the group stage.
In 2019, Zero One Nation Youth, led by Sung Yeo Tung, was eliminated in the qualifying stage of the Asian Youth Championship.
Under relief coach Hao Wei, in January 2020, the 97th National Olympics lost three straight group stage matches without scoring a single goal.
If many of the young players returning to China in early 2017 were still on loan, the market for young Chinese soccer players went completely crazy after 2018.
Beijing Guoan signed Wei Shihao and paid more than 25 million in signing fees.At the end of 2017, Lippi's team publicly stated that He Chao was Zheng Zhi's successor, and clubs such as Evergrande and Quanjian inquired about it, with the price of Yatai at 300 million yuan.
Not only did the new deal fail to produce talent, but the specific policy at one point sent the market price of age-appropriate players soaring, with agents and players who caught up with the new deal profiting handsomely.
Without collusion of interest, such a coincidence seems too centralized. How does StarHub understand the future market for young Chinese players? Why did the FA choose only 23-year-olds simply because they met the age requirement for the Olympics? It's an unbelievable explanation.
The intricate clues between Rick Link, Portugal's retention program, the 1997 National Youth Olympic Games, Hiddink and others may reveal more unknown secrets. Cai Zhenhua: from Li Ming to Sun Jihai, "U23 new policy" of the cake is constantly transferred.
