Undeterred by setbacks, China continued its quest to close the gap on the global elite in 2018
It was another tough year for Chinese men's soccer in 2018, but not an unproductive one as efforts were stepped up to close the gap on the world's elite.
On the pitch it was more of the same for Marcello Lippi's national squad, which won only three out of its 11 games in 2018, and had to watch from afar as their rivals slugged it out at the World Cup finals in Russia.
Any hope that March's invitational China Cup in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, might lift the gloom over the nation's World Cup qualification failure quickly faded when the host was thrashed 6-0 by Wales and then 4-1 by the Czech Republic.
In October, Lippi confirmed he would not renew his contract after the ongoing Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, while disappointing results in warm-up matches for that tournament－a 2-1 loss to Iraq and a 1-1 draw with Jordan－did not augur well for the Italian's final shot at redemption there.
"I think the main problem is our mentality," Team China defender Yu Yang said after the Iraq defeat. "Our team has not won too many games this year so we are not that confident sometimes."
However, an encouraging start to the Asian Cup campaign－a 2-1 Group C win over Kyrgyzstan－has at least restored some morale.
CSL thriller
But if the national team's travails were wearisome for fans, a thrilling Chinese Super League title tussle made up for it, with Shanghai SIPG crowned champion for the first time in its history by ending Guangzhou Evergrande's seven-year stranglehold on the trophy.
With the help of Brazilian duo Oscar and Hulk, SIPG's starry domestic striker Wu Lei netted 27 times to earn the CSL's Golden Boot and player of the year award.
In upstaging the league's brigade of expensive imports, Wu was an exception, as the glaring lack of up-and-coming domestic talent remains an ongoing concern for the nation's soccer chiefs.
"Although China's domestic leagues are developing rapidly, the actual quality of Chinese soccer has not shown any significant improvement," said China's deputy sports minister, Du Zhaocai.
"Many CSL and second-tier clubs still do not have comprehensive youth training systems. The progress of teams still depends heavily on their activity in the transfer market. That's because of deficiencies in our youth training system, resulting in a missing generation of new talent.
"Now the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has two priorities: Firstly, to build stronger national teams. Our aim is to make the men's team one of the best in Asia and reinstall the women's team as one of the world's best, challenging for honors at the World Cup and Olympics.
"The other goal is to invest heavily in youth training to increase the young soccer population and boost the future development of Chinese soccer."
Spending curbs
In recent years, the CSL has become synonymous with exorbitant transfer fees and player wages.
The spree reached its nadir in 2016 when SIPG splashed a combined $171 million on Oscar and Hulk, with both bosses and fans fearing the bigmoney imports were hampering the development of domestic talent.
However, those extravagant days look numbered after the CFA in December announced a series of measures to rein in the lavish spending, including the introduction of salary caps and a clampdown on rule-dodging "yin and yang" contracts.
From next season, CSL clubs will be required to adhere to a before-tax salary cap of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) for domestic players, while a club's total salary bill for first-team and reserve players will not be allowed to exceed 65 percent of its total expenditure for 2019.
That number will decrease to 60 percent in 2020 and 55 percent in 2021.
Each club's total expenditure cannot exceed 1.2 billion yuan in 2019, 1.1 billion yuan in 2020 and 900 million in 2021, and individual investors will be limited to injecting 650 million yuan into a team next season.
The number will decline over the next two years to 560 million yuan and 300 million yuan.
Penalties for not meeting the new standards include a cut in a club's new-signing quota for both domestic or international players during a transfer window, while similar limits are also being installed in the second-and third-tier leagues.
"The problems, including excessive spending, clubs' deficits, exorbitant transfer fees and insufficient infrastructure construction and youth training, have shown the urgent need and importance of supervising clubs' finances," said deputy sports minister Du.
Another focus is the eradication of so-called "yin and yang" contracts. They involve players or coaches signing a secret additional contract with a club in order to receive a higher salary or bonus.
"Anyone that dares to cook the books will be kicked out of the game," said Li Yuyi, deputy president of the CFA and chairman of the CSL.
Mbappe dream
The urgent need to reinvigorate Chinese youth soccer has been brought into sharp focus at the Asian Cup, where Team China is the oldest squad with an average age of 30.2 years.
With the right planning, CSL chairman Li believes it's not unrealistic for China to dream of unearthing a teenage talent akin to Paris Saint-Germain and France star Kylian Mbappe.
"Kylian Mbappe is just 19 years old and China must have the resolution to invest heavily in nurturing the next generation of soccer talent," said Li.
The CFA has been laying the foundations for this development for a number of years. Existing CSL rules on under-23 player quotas, for example, will remain in place next season, with clubs required to start at least one U-23 in each game and field at least three over the 90 minutes.
From next season, CSL teams will be required to have at least two under-21 players in their lineup who are products of their own youth systems, while second-tier China League One clubs will need to have at least one U-21 on the team.
Last year, the CFA also launched a new national under-23 league for the country's top three tiers, with Shanghai SIPG claiming the inaugural title in December.
"If there's no superstar, Chinese soccer will never step out of Asia. Finding and nurturing a major star of our own is as important as the overall development of Chinese soccer," said Du, who in November revealed that 50 new national training centers will be built by 2020.
Each will feature a four-tier selection system－school, district, city and international－with the best talent promoted to national squads or sent to train abroad.
The Ministry of Education is also doing its bit, with a total of 3,916 middle and primary schools across China specializing in youth soccer. In addition, 33 counties and districts have been selected for campus soccer pilot schemes.
Higher up the chain, Guus Hiddink was appointed head coach of the nation's under-21 squad in September.
The 72-year-old former Chelsea boss, whose main task is to prepare his squad for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has already proved his worth by leading the team to a runner-up finish at a four-nation tournament in Chongqing in November.
"We knew and the CFA knew that this is a difficult road to go, but why not try? Yes, we can sit back and be scared. Just let everyone be competitive," said Hiddink.
"We know the level we have so far, but we have to go to a higher level. And we have to go to scout for other players who are available and can do the job even better."
