On February 20, the Los Angeles Sparks welcomed a new Chinese star, Yang Liwei. The talented guard, along with another center Han Xu, who has renewed his contract with the New York Liberty, will add two splashes of Chinese red to the WNBA next season. Recently, many WNBA teams have thrown olive branches to Chinese women's basketball players, who are eager to sharpen their skills in a higher level league and accumulate valuable experience for the national team. This "overseas wind" seems to be quietly emerging.
Just a week ago on February 14, China's soccer sector broke out an anti-corruption storm. Chen Xuyuan, chairman of the Football Association, is suspected of serious disciplinary violations, following Nan Yong, Xie Yalong, became the third senior investigation of the Football Association "big brother". Previously, the former national soccer coach Li Tie has accepted the supervision and investigation, Chinese soccer into the whirlpool of public opinion.
Although the Asian teams in the World Cup has achieved success, the Chinese women's soccer team's goals are also quite powerful, but the Chinese men's soccer team seems to be in the mire. Will they be able to revitalize themselves after this "baptism"?
The news of Chen Xuyuan's investigation quickly triggered a public debate, with some media reviewing his past and even writing articles criticizing him. Some media outlets reviewed Chen Xuyuan's past, exposing his "black materials" and some even wrote articles criticizing him.On February 15, it was also reported that Meng Wei, a director of China Happiness, had been detained on suspicion of committing an illegal crime, which appeared to be related to the soccer anti-corruption storm.
Since last November, four senior staff of the CFA have been investigated one after another. Li Tie, Liu Yi and Chen Yongliang were all under investigation. The People's Daily microblog commented that there is no no-go area for anti-corruption, and that Chinese soccer needs to clean up its ecology and reshape its image.
Eileen Chang once said, "Life is a gorgeous robe full of lice." The Chinese men's football team has weathered storms and ups and downs in its 30 years of professionalization. From golden dollar soccer to naturalization policy, Chinese men's football has always hovered between disappointment and hope.
Despite the Chinese men's soccer team's poor performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, other Asian teams have achieved bright results. Chinese women's soccer and volleyball teams have also made brilliant achievements in their respective fields. However, the Chinese men's soccer team has always been difficult to get rid of the curse of "no hope of winning".
During Chen Xuyuan's tenure as chairman of the Football Association, he proposed the establishment of a professional league and issued a "wage restriction order", which once gave fans a glimpse of the dawn of China's soccer reform. However, the disciplinary problems of the professional league and the drawbacks of gold-dollar soccer still exist.
Now, Chinese soccer is once again standing at a new starting point. Hopefully, this anti-corruption storm will revitalize Chinese soccer and get it out of the woods.
(Synthesized from mass.com.cn, poster news, people's daily microblogging, china news.com.cn, qilu.com.cn, poster news.cn, etc.)
