According to reporter Rumi, the current season of the Chinese Super League presents a stable scene. After the wave of golden dollar soccer receded, the Chinese Super League stepped into a relatively smooth development stage. Under the shadow of the epidemic, the quality of the league has instead been improved. Data shows that although the scoring ability of foreign aiders has weakened, the number of assists has risen rather than fallen, and the Chinese Super League still has a high reliance on foreign aiders in terms of key passes and offensive organization.
Since 2020, the Chinese Super League has gone through a reform of the competition system, with the conference system replacing the traditional home and away system. Many foreign aiders failed to return to the team in time or even chose to leave for some reason. The restrictions were gradually relaxed in the late stages of the league last year, and with the full restoration of the home-and-away match system this year, the issue of foreign aid return has been resolved, however, the music department is paying more attention to cost-effectiveness when choosing foreign aid.
A total of 89 foreign aiders participated in this year's Chinese Super League, accounting for 15.29% of the total number of registered players. The average number of appearances made by foreign aiders was 7.4, a figure that has fluctuated over the last four seasons. For example, the average number of appearances made by foreign aiders was 6.1 in the 2019 season, rising to 7.4 in the 2020 season, while dropping to 5.4 in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The decrease in foreign aid appearances is partly due to the impact of the epidemic, coupled with the fact that some clubs are losing foreign aid due to falling wages. At the same time, some clubs are facing international litigation and are unable to sign players due to injunctions.
Although the number of Chinese Super League foreign aid players has returned to the pre-epidemic level this year, the average number of goals scored per game has not recovered simultaneously. The data show that the average goals scored by foreign aiders in the Chinese Super League in 2019 was 2.08 goals, and the 2020 and 2021 seasons were 1.97 and 1.2 goals, respectively. Although the number of goals has rebounded this year, the average number of goals per game of 1.56 goals is still lower than the previous two years, indicating that the goal-scoring ability of foreign aid has declined.
Looking back at 2019, the Chinese Super League foreigners were at their peak, with super foreigners such as Xavi and Paulinho performing spectacularly. However, with fewer league rounds in 2020, the number of goals scored by the Golden Boot team slipped; last season, the number of goals scored by the Golden Boot team rebounded, but it still did not reach the level before the epidemic.
After the ebbing of the golden dollar soccer, the salary restriction and the economic crisis have led to the departure of super foreign aiders, and the clubs return to the era of cost-effective. In the short term, it is difficult for the Chinese Super League to invest huge sums of money in foreign aid again.
Despite the decrease in goals scored, the role of foreign aiders on the offensive end is still evident. The average number of assists per game by foreign aiders has rebounded significantly this season, only 0.01 times less than in the 2019 season, and the average number of chances created per game is also higher than in the past three years. On the offensive end, Chinese Super League teams rely more on foreign aid.
The overall level of foreign aid has decreased, but the gap between teams still exists. Teams such as Seaport, Taishan, Zhejiang and Rongcheng have more reasonable configuration of foreign aid. Among them, Seaport finally won the league title with the good configuration of domestic players.
The quality of Taishan's foreigners was stable, with players such as Cressan, Fellaini and Moises performing well on the attacking end and contributing to the team's second place finish. Zhejiang entered the AFC Champions League zone for the second consecutive year, with foreigners Mou Xiekui and Lennardo performing well and succeeding in winning the Golden Boot.
Rongcheng was solid in terms of foreign aid, with players such as Palacios playing well to bring the team victory this season. Shenhua had an average foreign aid setup and relied more on the strength of their domestic players to finish fifth in the league.
Tri-Town and Guingamp have weaker foreign aid configurations and have experienced a mid-career loss of foreign aid that has led to subpar performances from their teams.
