It is a little-known fact that the current state of Chinese soccer in the global soccer world is really not optimistic. There are many different opinions on the root cause of this problem. Recently, veteran media personality Ji Yuyang gave a unique insight into the level of the game, revealing the huge gap between the players of the Chinese and European national teams.
Ji Yuyang found out by checking the information that in 2023, Chinese player Wu Lei played about 30 games in the domestic league, plus club cup matches, AFC Champions League matches, friendly matches of the national team and World Preliminary League matches, the number of appearances in the year is close to 45 games.
Meanwhile, another well-known player, Liu Yang, has appeared in over 40 games for Shandong Taishan this season, while Zhu Chenjie has appeared in 38 games. Taken together, Chinese national team players make about 40 appearances a year.
However, there is a significant gap in this statistic when compared to international players playing in Europe. In the case of Tottenham Hotspur, for example, players can play around 58 games a year, even without taking Champions League matches into account. A player like Rhodes, on the other hand, is expected to play nearly 70 games in 2023. In fact, 70 games is already the basic standard for international players from wealthy families. This number far exceeds that of Chinese internationals, and the intensity of competition in European leagues is very different from what Chinese players experience.
In terms of technical ability, intensity and frequency of play, our players are not in the same league as European players. This shows that it is tremendously difficult to catch up with top-level soccer. At present, the only way out seems to be to send players overseas for further studies, but this is not an easy task. Chinese players do not have a strong will to play abroad, and coupled with the limited level of play and the difficulty of accepting teams from other European leagues, this seems to have become a difficult problem to crack.
Compared to international players, our players only have to play about 40 games a year, while European, American, Japanese and Korean players have to play about 70 games a year. This means that there is a gap of about 30 games between us and them. These 30 matches directly determine the players' form. Although the national soccer team trains frequently, players can only master the rhythm of the game better in real matches. Some fans point out that Chinese players only have to participate in 40 matches in the Chinese Super League, where the overall level is low. Players gradually adapt to this comfortable life, with lots of money and little work close to home, but when it comes to international matches, they are beaten by their opponents.
Nowadays, it is difficult for this group of national team players to cope with the big task. If we want to promote the development of Chinese soccer, we must start with youth training, cultivate more soccer talents and send them abroad for further studies as early as possible. This is undoubtedly the best way to realize the dream of soccer.
