China's millions dwarf Harry Kewell's demands
SEBASTIAN HASSETT
Relevant offers
Allardyce blames Thatcher for football's decline Champs Germany out of Women's World Cup Italy's Fabio Cannavaro retires from football China's millions dwarf Harry Kewell's demands Qatar denies splitting 2022 games into thirds Wellington Phoenix triallists please Ricki Herbert One dead, 14 injured in Dutch stadium collapse Sunderland sign Man Utd pair Brown and O'Shea More arrests in Turkish match-fixing scandal Junior All Whites to play Wellington PhoenixFootball
If Harry Kewell's mooted percentage-laden deal to get him to the A-League went to plan, he might earn as much as $2.5 million next season. By Australian standards, it's big money. But by Asian standards, it's small change.
Our northern neighbours might be recognised as the future powers in the global economy but in football, where Asia has struggled to make its mark, question marks remain.
However, this week marked the moment Asia signalled its true intentions when a Chinese club made an Argentinian the world's third-highest-paid player.
Dario Conca is not a household name outside his region - he hasn't even been capped by his country - but he is the reigning South American footballer of the year after shining for Fluminense in Brazil.
He is reportedly earning $184,000 a week for the next 2½ years, which places him behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They are at another level, with Ronaldo earning $316,250 a week at Real Madrid, and Messi $269,000 at Barcelona.
Conca was bought by Guangzhou Evergrande, whose transition from infamy to regional powerhouse has taken less than two months. SBS journalist Scott McIntyre was in Guangzhou this week to watch the club in action as it trounced Chengdu Blades 4-0 in front of a packed house at Tianhe Stadium.
''Their rise is absolutely extraordinary,'' he said. ''Two seasons ago, both they and Chengdu were relegated after the Chinese match-fixing scandal but they have bounced back with some incredibly wealthy owners who made their fortune in the booming local real estate market. Now they have the financial muscle to compete with almost anyone, and they proved that by signing Conca. They've also got a very serious following - 50,000 fans come to their matches, and they're as impressive and passionate as anything I've seen. They're an example of the potential that exists right across China.''
Xu Jiayin, the chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group, which owns the club, is said to be worth $US443 million ($412.4m) - although Forbes estimated his wealth at $US1.2 billion as recently as 2008. He has a stated aim to keep investing in the club and ''win the Asian Champions League within three years''. They've already tied down a friendly against Real Madrid next month.
On the receiving end of the hammering at Guangzhou was Blades manager Lawrie McKinna. By comparison, McKinna has the league's smallest operating budget. Yet against what he last had at the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League, it's a different world.
''Our training base has 72 four-star accommodation rooms, numerous offices and boardrooms, six training pitches, a huge gym, sauna, spa and everything else you can think of,'' he said. ''China is setting itself to match Japan and Korea, but in future years they can match it with the biggest clubs in the world.''
While the cash flows in so, too, must the results. The owners are demanding, and sometimes selfish.
''Last week our owner sold eight first-team players. He also made the team catch a 15-hour train trip just to make a point to the government that his wealth isn't what they think it is,'' McKinna said. ''But if we escape relegation [Chengdu are three points clear], we're in line for a three-million renminbi [$430,000] bonus to be shared among players and coaches, and we collectively get a RMB600,000 bonus each time we win. Yet at Guangzhou, I hear they pay five-million renminbi bonus for a win and a two-million renminbi bonus for a draw. But if they lose, they get fined two-million renminbi. They haven't lost a game yet.''
The entire competition had a massive payday this week with the news that real estate company Dalian Wanda had pumped in $72 million of its own money into sponsoring the Chinese Super League for the next three years.
In Japan and Korea, huge investment in their domestic clubs has been going on for decades, and they are the region's established powers.
Meanwhile, back in Australia, football clings to the hope that FFA chairman Frank Lowy will open his wallet. If he wants Australia to keep up, he might have no choice.
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sponsored links
