Guangzhou Evergrande

Guangzhou Evergrande is in a strange place right now.

They announced a strange policy at the start of the season, basically they’ll deliberately not pick their best team for every Chinese Super League (CSL) game.

Why? Basically, they’re going to use only two foreigners instead of the maximum allowed three. It’s a political decision.

It’s made the CSL seem a little strange and it damages the sport’s integrity.

But in the ACL they use the AFC 3+1 rule, so the last ACL game they had the player they signed from Everton [formerly of Sunderland] Tyias Browning, he played in that game.

 

Former Everton player Tyias Browning

That’s the only game he’s played so far, so it’s a little hard to call, given their selections are different for CSL and ACL.

Chinese football is in a weird place right now. But the ACL is important to them, they’ve won it twice before which shows they’ve always taken it seriously. Unlike say (J-League side) Sanfrecce who recently basically played a reserve side in one of their ACL games.

Generally though, in China, the ACL is taken very seriously. Even if you look at the attendances of the games, they're in some cases higher in the ACL than the CSL.

A-League teams’ perception in China

The A-League is quite well respected in China. Chinese football fans see A-League sides as competitive and quite physical and have a good winning spirit.

They play with a determination to win. A lot of Chinese fans often deride their own teams for not being determined enough, but that’s something generally fans in China recognise in A-League teams.

 

There aren’t as many Australian players in the CSL simply because of the change to eligibility rules. Until recently there was a lot.

The +1 rule was dropped. It’s not because they thought Australian players weren’t any good.