Du Zhaocai, the former head of the Football Association (FA) who was at the helm of China's soccer boat, has now been formally arrested by the judiciary. With the preliminary hearing falling, he is about to face the severe punishment of the law. Since Du Zhaocai took charge of the Football Association in 2017, six years have passed by in a hurry. This former giant of the soccer world is now in this predicament. Behind all kinds of tragedies, often hidden endless sadness; and individuals like Du Zhaocai have also brought the hard-to-heal wounds to Chinese soccer.
In the summer of 2017, Du Zhaocai sat as an airborne soldier in the position of a hand of the Football Association. At that time, Cai Zhenhua has been marginalized, Du Zhaocai actually become the hidden helmsman of the Football Association. At the beginning of his tenure, he drastically reformed the controversial "transfer fee" system. Not only did he not loosen the constraints on the clubs, but he introduced even more stringent policies, trying to close every loophole in the transfer fee system, so that the clubs could not escape from the shackles of this "heavy tax burden".
By 2020, Guangzhou Evergrande, Beijing Guoan, Tianjin Tianhai and other clubs to the Football Association to pay the error correction fee has accumulated more than 1.5 billion yuan, once became Du Zhaocai hands of "liquidity". However, this huge sum of money of unknown origin has now become a "bad debt" difficult to recover. The destination of the funds, how to recover, has become an unresolved problem. This is undoubtedly a concentrated manifestation of the "undercurrent" of Du Zhaocai's leadership.
During Du Zhaocai's time in charge of the Football Association, the Chinese Super League also experienced three years of chaos. He tried to create a "national team professional league", then tried to form a "national training team", and even forcibly selected players from various teams. He implemented militarized training during tournaments and created the so-called "U25 National Team". All of these policies ended in failure, dealing a fatal blow to the Chinese Super League standings and sponsor confidence. In fact, although the Chinese Super League is still in the "Golden Dollar Era", its decline is becoming increasingly obvious.
Du Zhaocai's dictatorship in the Football Association came to an end in the summer of 2019 when Chen Xuyuan joined the organization. On the surface, the two men agreed, but secretly they fought. In order to consolidate his position, Du Zhaocai even went so far as to expand the power structure of the Association by bringing in his "friends" to deal with Chen Xuyuan. As a result, the Association has become a battleground for Du and Chen to compete for fame and fortune. People can't help but ask, how much charm does soccer still have to attract people's attention?
However, Du Zhaocai's greatest damage to Chinese soccer goes far beyond that.In 2019, China's national Olympic team triggered an uproar when they failed to beat Vietnam at home. It was later revealed that the national team selection was manipulated by the organization and became a tool for benefit transfer. As Du Zhaocai, who was in charge of youth selection at the time, it was naturally difficult to escape the blame. This is the destruction of the foundation of Chinese soccer, and is Du Zhaocai's unforgivable crime.
