Chapter 629
A Comprehensive Reform of Chinese Football!
The interviews were mostly about football, including how he got into football, his experience playing abroad, and his thoughts on leading the national team to the World Cup.
Because he had already discussed the topic with the production team beforehand and prepared the standard answers, Lin Feng only needed to answer accordingly.
The interview went very smoothly; however, after the predetermined answers were given, the host, Jing Yidan, suddenly asked a question that had not been discussed beforehand:
"As we all know, Chinese football experienced some setbacks after participating in the 2002 World Cup. The development of football in China once fell to a low point. Many people were worried that the national team's qualification for the World Cup this time would be just a flash in the pan, just like last time."
As the captain of the Chinese team, do you have any good suggestions on how to avoid this situation?
Lin Feng was somewhat surprised by the question, but he had indeed thought about the answer.
After a moment's thought, I gave my answer:
"I believe that the value of sports lies not in the arena, but in getting people involved, improving their health and mental well-being through sports; the decline of Chinese football in recent years is because the development of football has become detached from the general public, becoming a rootless duckweed."
"Although the cultures, national conditions, and even systems of different countries are different, and we cannot simply copy others, we can learn from their experiences."
I've spent a lot of time abroad, especially in Germany, where the football atmosphere is very strong. In addition to the professional clubs in the top leagues, there are also a large number of amateur or semi-amateur teams.
Most of the players on these teams are not professional athletes; some are deliverymen, some are electricians, some are white-collar workers, and some are auto workers.
Although their skill level is not high, their ordinary background makes these teams very down-to-earth. On match days, the players' relatives and friends, young and old, would come to support them and cheer them on.
These fans, who don't support the team because of its performance or championships, are extremely loyal to the team. Even if the team's record is poor, or even if the team is not in a top-tier professional league, they will still support them unswervingly.
In my small town of Greuther Fürth, the local clubs are not top-league teams, and the population of Greuther Fürth is only seventy or eighty thousand.
But on match days, local families would all come out, filling the huge stadium to capacity.
In Germany, football is no longer a sport for elite players, but a carnival for all, and has even become an important part of German life.
This nationwide football atmosphere has not only supported the German football market but also continuously supplied talent to the top professional leagues.
It has also boosted the German economy. The more people participate in football, the better the development of football-related industries such as jerseys and shoes will be, which in turn will create more jobs.
Well-known German sports brands like Adidas have grown step by step thanks to the huge domestic market demand.
More importantly, once these giant corporations grow in size, they will in turn sponsor national teams and clubs, allowing the football industry to achieve a balance between income and expenditure, and even become profitable, without relying on government financial support.
The people in the recording studio, especially the fans who often watch football, couldn't help but feel longing when they heard Lin Feng's words.
But Jing Yidan keenly spotted the flaw in Lin Feng's words and frowned, questioning him:
"The economic development level of developed Western European countries such as Germany is far higher than ours. In addition, the overall social welfare in Europe is relatively good, so their citizens have enough time and economic conditions to participate in various sports."
Blindly learning from and emulating others when economic conditions and social welfare are inferior is unlikely to yield good results.
Lin Feng nodded. Teacher Jing Yidan's thinking was indeed quick; she immediately grasped the crux of the problem.
"So I said to learn from it, not to copy it wholesale."
Lin Feng nodded, acknowledging the other party's point of view, but also sticking to his own:
"Given our current level of economic development, it's unlikely that we can achieve the same level of universal participation as in Europe. But having only a top-tier league and letting football completely disconnect from the public isn't good either."
Therefore, as a compromise, provincial football leagues with local characteristics should be held in provinces with better economic conditions.
The selection process involves primarily selecting amateur football enthusiasts from the province to participate in the competition, thereby lowering the barrier to entry for the public to participate in football and bringing football closer to ordinary people.
They attract a large number of people to watch the games by offering low-priced tickets or even free additional tickets, and generate revenue from the surrounding catering, accommodation, and tourism businesses that are boosted by the attendance.
If it works well, this method can be extended to other provinces across the country; if it doesn't work well, it can be stopped promptly without significant losses.
The suggestion Lin Feng gave was actually the Scottish Premiership of later generations.
The Scottish Premiership is not very high-level, probably at the level of the fourth-tier Chinese Super League.
However, the attendance and audience appeal of the Scottish Premiership far exceed those of the top-tier Chinese Super League, demonstrating that the level of competition is not the key factor influencing people's attendance at matches.
Unlike the Chinese Super League teams that are sponsored by corporations, frequently change their names, and even move around a lot (Shanghai this year, Beijing next year, Xi'an the year after, Guizhou the year after that), and whose teams are mostly composed of players from their own province or city.
The Scottish Premiership, with its teams named after cities and composed of local players, even amateur ones, provides a sense of identity that Chinese Super League teams simply cannot match.
Without a sense of belonging, people will feel that football has nothing to do with them, and they won't bother to pay attention to it, let alone go to watch the game live.
Once a sense of identity is established, a large number of die-hard fans can be gathered quickly.
Even if the team is at a very low level and loses all the strokes of the city's name, there will still be a large number of loyal fans who will never abandon them.
Of course, the economic situation in 2025 will be very different from that in 2009.
Perhaps the conditions weren't there now, and if the Scottish Premiership had been established sixteen years earlier, it might not have been as successful as it was in later years, and might even have suffered a major setback.
But as Lin Feng said, this was just his personal suggestion, and whether to adopt or implement it was not his concern.
This episode of Focus Interview generated quite a stir in the country after it aired.
Chinese football had already received unprecedented attention recently because the national team qualified for the World Cup.
Even though the World Cup qualifiers ended several days ago, major media outlets across the country are still reporting on news about football and the national team.
Fans, caught up in the nationwide frenzy, were even more enthusiastic about these reports, with some even following up on gossip about Lin Feng and Liu Yifei's date.
The airing of such a focused interview at this time naturally attracted widespread attention from fans.
Lin Feng is absolutely right. Our league has long been disconnected from the grassroots level. These clubs aren't playing football; they're playing a game of capital!
[It's great to have a provincial league; it lets us amateur football enthusiasts get a chance to play and have some fun!]
Jiangsu and Guangdong have the best economic conditions in the country, so why don't we start by developing these two provinces?
[Shuntian fans support Jiangsu creating its own Jiangsu Super League!]
[Great! It's finally time for my Wuxi Ronaldo to shine!] [My Xuzhou Ronaldo's sword has been itching for a fight!]
[I, Lin Feng from Suzhou, am not very talented; I would appreciate any guidance from you all!]
[Nanjing Messi is not convinced!]
Lin Feng's ideas and suggestions have sparked a great deal of discussion among the public, and calls for the establishment of local football leagues have grown louder and louder.
After conducting market research, local governments quickly took action, taking advantage of the national football team's recent qualification for the World Cup to launch local football leagues in the year leading up to the World Cup.
On July 2nd, the first JS Provincial Football Super League kicked off amidst great anticipation.
Lin Feng was shocked to learn of this news. He had thought that his suggestion might be adopted, but he did not expect it to happen so quickly.
It's only been two weeks since he made that suggestion, isn't that incredibly fast?
Although shocked, Lin Feng was very satisfied with the result.
So, after receiving an invitation from the organizers of the Scottish Premiership to watch the opening match, Lin Feng readily agreed and even dragged Liu Xiang and Yao Ming along to support the Scottish Premiership.
The organizers were initially pleased to have invited Lin Feng, a big star, but unexpectedly, Lin Feng got two freebies, bringing in two more sports superstars whose influence was no less than his own.
The news of the upcoming Scottish Premiership had already garnered significant attention in the domestic sports world, and the presence of figures like Lin Feng, Liu Xiang, and Yao Ming further amplified its popularity.
At the opening match between Nanjing and Suzhou held at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, more than 65,000 fans flocked to the stadium, setting a new attendance record for the event and even surpassing the attendance record of the Chinese Super League!
The current attendance record in the Chinese Super League was just set by last season's league champions, Beijing Guoan, in their final match against Hangzhou Greentown.
The stadium was packed with 54000 fans, and the attendance for the Scottish Premiership opening match was more than 11,000 higher than the Chinese Super League record!
The popularity of the Scottish Premiership far exceeds outside expectations.
Although Nanjing fans were very enthusiastic about watching the game, the Nanjing team's performance was somewhat disappointing.
In the opening match, Nanjing team took the lead but conceded two goals in the second half, resulting in a heartbreaking loss.
During the match, Suzhou's number 8 midfielder delivered an impressive performance, not only providing several key passes but also contributing two assists.
It seems that Lin Feng from Suzhou wasn't just bragging; he really does have some skills.
However, for him, the biggest reward of this game was not the Best Player award, but the photo with Jeremy Lin and the autographed gift from him.
The Scottish Premiership's popularity is not a flash in the pan; in addition to the incredibly high attendance at the opening match,
The stadiums in the cities where the remaining matches were played were also packed to capacity.
Compared to the Chinese Super League, the Scottish Premiership has a very low barrier to entry for spectators, with tickets costing only ten yuan or even being given away for free.
Attendees will also receive various perks, such as hotel discount coupons, free admission to tourist attractions, and game-related gifts.
The low barriers to entry and high benefits have greatly increased public participation and enthusiasm for watching the games.
Although the participating teams varied in skill level, the fans still thoroughly enjoyed watching the show.
The atmosphere of watching a game live is completely different from watching it on TV at home.
The speed and impact of a player cannot be captured on television broadcasts.
Many people who only came to watch the game out of curiosity ended up enjoying the experience and gradually became regulars at the stadium.
The popularity of the Scottish Premiership has attracted a large number of fans from other provinces and cities to watch the games, making already hard-to-get Scottish Premiership tickets even more scarce.
More importantly, the presence of these out-of-town tourists not only brought greater popularity to the Scottish Premiership, but their accommodation, catering, and tourism spending also boosted the local GDP and generated more tax revenue.
The popularity of the Scottish Premiership has inspired other provinces.
Various regions have launched their own provincial football leagues, and within just one month, a football craze has swept across China.
Previously struggling to take root at the grassroots level, football, which seemed like a rootless duckweed, appears to have found its roots overnight.
Seeing that local football events were thriving, the Football Association couldn't sit still any longer.
Local leagues are not under the jurisdiction of the Football Association, so any achievements they make are none of their concern.
On the contrary, if they fail to address the top-level issues when grassroots football is flourishing, they will become the culprits of Chinese football.
Therefore, the Football Association also began to plan a series of reforms.
For example, canceling naming rights, allowing all teams to adopt neutral names, encouraging teams to recruit and use more local players, and strengthening the identity of local fans.
Relaxing restrictions on team sponsorships, allowing teams to find and negotiate sponsors themselves, would raise the revenue ceiling for top clubs.
As compensation, the Football Association will adjust the league's broadcast revenue sharing, aiming to provide some support to lower-ranked teams while ensuring fairness.
This is to reduce the predicament of their sudden loss of access to collective resources, resulting in a sharp decline in income due to a lack of bargaining power and commercial appeal, while also preventing a single dominant player from emerging in the league.
In addition, the Chinese Football Association is also preparing to further improve the four-tier promotion and relegation system of the professional league.
The Chinese Super League, China League One, and China League Two will be expanded to include 20 teams each, with three teams promoted or relegated each season.
The semi-professional, semi-amateur league will be reorganized into the China League Two, connecting with China League Two at the top and with local association leagues and city leagues at the bottom.
In this way, the local leagues that are flourishing in various regions will have a channel to be upgraded to professional leagues, and in the future, players and teams that stand out from local leagues like the Scottish Premiership will have the opportunity to be promoted to the top league.
At the same time, the Football Association also encourages clubs to establish and improve their youth training systems and form youth training leagues.
It also allows U21 youth training teams from Chinese Super League and China League One teams to participate in China League Two, enabling young players to step onto the professional stage as soon as possible and receive training in professional leagues.
Compared to the national team's closed training camps, real-world matches are much more effective at helping young players accumulate experience, develop their competitive mentality, and allow talented players to stand out and gain public and national team recognition sooner! (End of Chapter)