Governance of Chinese professional football during Xi’s authoritarian era: what is changing and what remains unchanged

Abstract

This article sought to answer questions concerning the aspects that are changing and those that remains unchanged regarding football in China during Xi's authoritarian era by comparing the governance of Chinese professional football during this era and during a previously examined former era to provide a point of departure for empirical studies concerning the recent ascent of football in China.This research yielded the following findings. Regarding the first question, first, at the league-governance level, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has prioritized the salience of professional football clubs (PFCs). Second, at the clubgovernance level, the CFA has adopted a gradualist approach to institutional reform by proceeding through a process of introducing private or state-owned enterprises. Third, also at the club-governance level, PFCs face financial fragility due to the heavy dependence on soft loans from backing enterprises. Regarding the second question, at the league-governance level, the actual goal setting remains unchanged, and underachievement of the national football team persists.Comprehensive document analysis that included international peer-reviewed journal articles, books or book chapters, academic reports, policy documents, and influential media in China was performed. In addition, website research on all sixteen clubs in the Chinese Super League (CSL) during the 2019 season was conducted.

Understanding the complexity of provincial-level elite sport policy change: The case of Shanghai municipality

“…Chinese football authorities now seem to be employing a gradualist approach to institutional reform, which greatly facilitates commercialization. To date, only incremental reform at the club governance level has been undertaken ( Ma and Zheng, 2022 ).…”