Hamsik´s transfer is only average in China

The transfer of the Slovak national team player for 15 million euros from Italy’s Napoli doesn’t even make the top 20 most expensive signings in the Chinese Super League.

The transfer of the captain of Italian club SSC Napoli, Marek Hamšík, to the Chinese team Dalian Yifang will be the third most lucrative in the history of Slovak football. Only Milan Skriniar and Vratislav Gresko changed clubs for higher amounts. Napoli is set to receive 15 million euros for the transfer, which is expected to be finalized in the coming days. While this amount ranks among the most lucrative deals in Slovakia, in the context of the Chinese Super League it’s only average. Hamšík’s transfer doesn’t even make the top 20 most lucrative arrivals in the top league of the world’s most populous country. Leading the list is Brazilian international Oscar, who transferred from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG in January 2017 for 60 million euros.

"The Chinese league is a competition whose quality keeps improving, and domestic players are drawn in by interesting foreign signings," said Jozef Tokos, sports analyst and football agent, in an interview with the Economic Daily.

The beginning of Chinese football’s significant rise and the growth of its top league can be traced back to 2015. That year, the Chinese government approved a new program to improve football conditions in the country. According to the plan, 50,000 new football schools are to be established by 2025, China aims to host the World Cup in 2030, and two decades after that, to win the world title. One part of fulfilling the government’s ambitious goals is to make the domestic Super League more attractive by bringing in well-known names from world football, Marek Hamšík among them.

“People in China have been getting to know top-level football in the last three to four years. There’s huge growth potential in the country. The question is whether they will continue to develop it or slow it down, as some restrictions have already been introduced in the league,” says Tokos.

Players like Oscar, Tevez, and Hulk were lured to Chinese clubs with astronomical salaries. Two years ago, players from the Chinese Super League made up half of the top 16 highest-paid footballers in the world. Carlos Tevez, for instance, had an annual salary of nearly 37 million euros—more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were making at the time. However, at the beginning of last year, China introduced salary caps and reduced the number of foreign players per team from five to four.

The arrival of football stars, especially those who had made their names in Europe, also led to a sharp rise in match attendance at Chinese stadiums. Ten years ago, an average of 16,000 spectators attended games; last season it was already 24,000. The Chinese Super League thus became the sixth most attended football competition in the world—trailing only the English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Mexican leagues.

Hamšík’s new club, Dalian Yifang, may serve in the coming years as a good example of football’s growing popularity in China. Based in the nearly seven-million-strong city of Dalian, the club was a league newcomer in 2018 and averaged over 30,000 fans per match. The team, led by German coach Bernd Schuster, finished only in 11th place and was just three points above the relegation zone. All signs suggest that Hamšík’s arrival should boost not only attendance but also the team’s results. The new Chinese Super League season begins in March. (...)