New wine must not be put in old bottle of soccer

Chinese Football Association Chairman Chen Xuyuan, who was elected CFA head in 2019, is under investigation for suspected violations of discipline and the law, said China's top anti-graft watchdog on Tuesday.

The investigation is linked with former Team China head coach Li Tie, who was detained and probed for suspected serious violations of discipline and the law in November. Chen Yongliang, the CFA's executive deputy secretary-general, and Liu Yi, the CFA's former secretary-general, were also put under investigation last month for the same reason.

Despite the huge input of the country and clubs, it was during Chen Xuyuan's tenure, that China failed to qualify for the 2022 Qatar World Cup with a squad of naturalized players from South America and Europe, the nation's soccer leagues faced tremendous financing difficulties with many clubs struggling to make their ends meet, and no Chinese player is playing in the major soccer leagues in Europe after Espanyol ended its contract with Chinese forward Wu Lei in August, as he had just 10 goals in total in his 103 appearances for the Spanish club during about three years.

Although it is not fair to blame all the disappointing performances of Chinese soccer on the CFA chairman, the news that he is under investigation has prompted many Chinese soccer fans to let out a sigh of relief for it represents a chance for the Chinese soccer to make a new start.

But that optimism might not hold water if the system governing the development of the world's most popular sport in China is not overhauled. It should not be forgotten that Chen Xuyuan's election as head of the CFA four years ago from the post of president of Shanghai International Port Group, who also oversaw the management of the then successful Shanghai SIPG FC, represented a bold move to embrace a large-scale institutional reform of the soccer system of China.

Previously, the CFA chairman was elected from among officials of the sport administrative system, where nepotism and vested interests proved to be universal as the anti-graft campaign a decade ago revealed. That probe resulted in the imprisonment of almost all the then major members of the CFA along with dozens of players, referees and club managers.

So no matter who in the CFA or the sports administrative departments of the country is caught in the net of the ongoing investigation, it will not be a surprise.

It should not take such once-a-decade anti-graft storms to awaken the decision-makers to the fact that the Chinese soccer system needs to start all over again, with more soccer pitches available to attract more children to the sport. Popularity, rather than money, is the root of a sport's success in a country, particularly soccer, as proved by Brazil and Argentina and such fast chasers as Japan and the Republic of Korea.