In the early morning of February 17th, the Chinese soccer world suddenly set off a storm, the head of the Football Association Chen Xuyuan was arrested on suspicion of major violations of discipline, the news quickly occupied the major media headlines. Looking back on Chen Xuyuan's initiatives since he took office, none of them have been controversial, as if casting a shadow over Chinese soccer.
Chen Xuyuan, former chairman of Shanghai Port, has won widespread recognition for his outstanding leadership in leading the team to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League for four consecutive years and winning the Chinese Super League. It was such a non-sports system leader who parachuted in to become the chairman of the FA, becoming the first non-sports system FA chairman in Chinese soccer history.
The outside world had high hopes for Chen Xuyuan, expecting him to bring new changes to Chinese soccer. However, a series of comments made by Chen Xuyuan during his time in Hong Kong and his many years of experience in business management do not seem to have brought about the expected changes in the soccer world, but have instead exacerbated the problem.
In particular, his implementation of a neutral policy has dampened the confidence of business investment and led to the dissolution of 35 professional teams. He suppressed the naturalization policy and refused to naturalize players, which brought to naught the 2.2 billion yuan invested by teams such as Evergrande, Luneng and Guoan.
In response, renowned journalist He Xiaolong bluntly stated Chen Xuyuan's two major sins: first, over-sheltering Shanghai soccer, and second, the heated arguments against his predecessor.
He Xiaolong pointed out that Chen Xuyuan acquiesced to Shanghai soccer playing word games on the neutral name policy, allegedly letting the cat out of the bag to Shanghai in advance and asking Oscar to renew his contract. On the issue of adjustment fees, he acquiesced to Shanghai's non-payment of adjustment fees without penalty.
And on the issue of the predecessor, Chen Xuyuan suppressed the naturalization policy, limiting the number of naturalized people and the number of years, resulting in Evergrande's naturalized players not being able to play at the same time, and making Delgado an oddity as a foreign aid. These behaviors, while damaging to the team's interests, are fairly minor.
However, Chen Xuyuan instructed Li Tie to limit the appearance of naturalized players to the detriment of the national football team. With naturalized players such as Ackerson, Luo Guofu, and Alan, the national football team has increased its strength greatly, making teams such as Japan and Saudi Arabia feel fearful. However, Chen Xuyuan's suppression of naturalized players caused the national football team to miss the World Cup again, and made Li Tie take the blame for not reusing naturalized players.
It can be said that it was these two crimes pointed out by He Xiaolong that doomed Chen Xuyuan to failure. He harmed the interests of other Chinese Super League teams and neglected national honor for his own selfish desires. Therefore, his arrest was not unjust.
