Reformasi, Antikorupsi, dan Perkembangan Sepakbola di Tiongkok

Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, banyak pihak yang melihat dengan takjub perkembangan sepakbola di Tiongkok. Saya masih ingat 10 tahun lalu, ketika saya pertama kali tinggal di Beijing, dan sering bermain dengan teman-teman dari Amerika Latin. Di lapangan sebelah tempat kita bermain biasanya juga diisi pemain asing. Tapi sekarang, lapangan bola di Beijing selalu dipenuhi masyarakat lokal. Dan jumlah lapangannya pun telah bertambah berkali lipat.

Belum lagi berita-berita terbaru mengenai pemain-pemain asing yang berkiprah di Chinese Super League. Bahkan tim favorit saya, FC Barcelona pun menemukan Paulinho di Guangzhou Evergrande untuk mengisi kekosongan yang ditinggalkan Neymar Jr. Dan ternyata, Paulinho jauh lebih hebat dari yang diharapkan, walaupun memang sangat sulit menggantikan seorang Neymar Jr. Setidaknya, pembelian Paulinho dari Guangzhou menunjukkan bahwa tingkat permainan di CSL sudah menjadi perhatian tim-tim di Eropa.

 

Nah, dalam artikel ini, saya ingin sedikit berbagi mengenai sepakbola di Tiongkok.

 

Sebagaimana organisasi-organisasi lain di Tiongkok, China Football Association (CFA) berada di bawah kendali pemerintahan. Secara spesifik, CFA berada di bawah naungan State General Administration of Sports, yang di Indonesia setara dengan Kementerian Pemuda dan Olahraga. FIFA mentolerir hal tersebut mengingat bentuk pemerintahan di Tiongkok, di mana segala aspek kehidupan penduduk dikontrol dan diawasi oleh Pemerintah.

 

CSL dibentuk pada tahun 2004 sebagai liga tertinggi sepakbola di Tiongkok untuk menggantikan Jia A League. Pembentukan CSL utamanya dikarenakan kegagalan Tiongkok pada Piala Dunia 2002 di Jepang-Korea, di mana Timnas Tiongkok kalah tiga kali dan tidak menghasilkan satu gol pun sepanjang turnamen.

 

Untuk dapat berpartisipasi dalam CSL, para tim diharuskan mempunyai manajemen yang professional, keuangan yang transparan, dan youth program yang dapat menghasilkan pemain-pemain lokal. Persayaratan-persyaratan ini diharapkan dapat mengangkat kualitas sepakbola di Tiongkok secara umum.

Namun demikian, upaya tersebut tidak membuahkan hasil yang diharapkan karena semakin banyaknya uang yang mengalir ke CSL justru membuat kompetisi semakin diwarnai kasus-kasus korupsi. Korupsi dan sogok-menyogok seringnya dilakukan oleh pejabat-pejabat daerah. Beberapa tindakan ilegal yang merusak citra CSL termasuk:

• Maraknya perjudian, terutama yang dilakukan oleh para pejabat lokal
• Pengaturan skor oleh pemilik klub, terutama untuk menguntungkan pejabat-pejabat lokal
• Sogok-menyogok untuk dapat mengirim pemain klub ke Timnas Tiongkok, yang sering dilakukan oleh pemilik tim lokal guna meningkatkan pamor klub.

Kasus korupsi dan sogok biasanya melibatkan pemain (utamanya para pemain bek dan kiper) atau pelatih. Hal ini dikarenakan gaji pemain dan wasit yang sangat rendah. Pelatih klub biasanya tidak tahu-menahu, dan sering menjadi pihak yang dirugikan karena kelakuan pemain dan wasit.

 

Dampak dari keterpurukan pesepakbolaan di Tiongkok adalah menurunnya interest masyarakat Tiongkok untuk bermain atau menonton sepakbola professional di negara mereka sendiri. Berbagai kegagalan Timnas Tiongkok juga menjadi bahan cemoohan masyarakat, yang tidak percaya bahwa dari 1,3 milyar penduduk Tiongkok tidak dapat dicari 11 orang untuk bermain sepakbola yang kompetitif, setidaknya di Asia.

 

Kondisi yang buruk ini mencapai titik nadir pada tahun 2009, ketika pemain-pemain Qingdao Hailifeng “tidak berhasil” membiarkan lawannya menang lebih dari empat gol. Kegagalan ini dikatakan akhirnya menyebabkan pemilik klub Qingdao Hailifeng rugi judi besar-besaran.

 

Melihat kondisi ini, akhirnya Pemerintah Pusat bertekad untuk memberikan perhatian lebih terhadap CFA dan CSL, dan melakukan reformasi internal yang progresif dan disiplin. Upaya ini secara individu dimulai oleh Presiden Xi Jinping, yang pada waktu itu masih menjabat sebagai Wakil Presiden RRT. Xi Jinping adalah penggemar sepakbola dan telah mengarahlan agar berbagai upaya sejak tahun 2009 dapat mempersiapkan kondisi yang kondusif untuk pengembangan sepakbola di Tiongkok pada saat Xi Jinping nantinya menjadi Presiden RRT.

 

Dengan tekad ini, maka dimulailah kampanye anti-korupsi di CFA dan CSL. Saat berkunjung ke Jerman pada tahun 2009, Xi Jinping mengatakan bahwa sepakbola di Tiongkok harus menjadi sumber kebanggaan nasional. Dua minggu kemudian, 16 pejabat CFA dan CSL serta pemain klub ditangkap polisi karena terbukti menerima atau memberikan sogokan.

 

Kampanye anti-korupsi di tubuh CFA dan CSL berlangsung dari 2009 sampai dengan 2012. Dalam periode tersebut, setidaknya 58 pejabat CFA dan CSL ditangkap dan dijatuhkan hukuman sampai dengan 10 tahun penjara. Beberapa pejabat termasuk dua orang mantan Ketua CFA, beberapa pemain Timnas Tiongkok ternama, dan seorang wasit di Tiongkok yang paling terkenal.

 

Kampanye anti-korupsi dilakukan baik oleh Pemerintah (melalui Kementerian Supervisi) maupun Partai Komunis Tiongkok (PKT). Hal ini dapat dilakukan karena segenap pejabat CFA dan CSL adalah pegawai pemerintahan dan fungsionaris PKT.

 

Sambil dilakukannya kampanye anti-korupsi, Pemerintah RRT juga mendorong partisipasi perusahaan-perusahaan swasta untuk mendanai klub-klub CSL. Perusahaan-perusahaan yang menanggapi dorongan Pemerintah termasuk Alibaba Group (sponsor utama Guangzhou Evergrande FC), Suning (perusahaan peralatan elektronik terbesar di Tiongkok, sponsor utama Jiangsu Sainty FC), dan SIPG (perusahaan manajemen pelabuhan, sponsor utama Shanghai Shanggang FC). 

 

Klub-klub juga melakukan pendekatan kepada masyarakat lokal, termasuk dengan menciptakan merchandising yang bagus, memudahkan pembelian tiket masuk, dan melakukan berbagai program kemasyarakatan. Dukungan para fans lokal menjadi salah satu tumpuan sumber keuangan bagi setiap klub. Secara umum, jumlah fans yang mengunjungi stadion setiap harinya meningkat. Begitu juga dengan jumlah yang menonton pertandingan-pertandingan via tv dari rumah.

 

Setelah menjadi Presiden RRT, Xi Jinping meneruskan niatnya untuk membenahi sepakbola di Tiongkok dengan menjadikan isu ini sebagai salah satu isu yang dibahas pada saat kongres nasional tahun 2013. Dalam pidatonya di hadapan para anggota National People’s Congress (NPC), Presiden Xi manyampaikan bahwa revitalisasi sepakbola di Tiongkok akan menjadikan Tiongkok sebagai negara olahraga yang kuat, yang merupakan bagian inti dari pencapaian China Dream yang dia visikan.

 

Pada tahun 2015, akhirnya NPC mengeluarkan 50-Point Plan terkait dengan revitalisasi sepakbola di Tiongkok. Beberapa target kunci adalah:

• Meningkatkan profesionalitas klub-klub CSL, dengan mendorong partisipasi perusahaan-perusahaan lokal dari berbagai bidang usaha sebagai sponsor klub
• Menciptakan basis yang kuat bagi pengembangan sepakbola dengan memberdayakan organisasi-organisasi sepakbola di tingkat grassroots serta sekolah-sekolah sepakbola
• Meningkatkan jumlah anak-anak di Tiongkok yang bermain sepakbola
• Membuka sekolah-sekolah sepakbola baru, yang jumlahnya diharapkan mencapai 20 ribu pada tahun 2020 dan 50 ribu pada than 2025 (saat ini jumlahnya masih 5 ribu)
• Mengucurkan dana ke sistem pendidikan agar menjadikan sepakbola sebagai salah program kurikulum pendidikan nasional
• Terus meningkatkan program anti-korupsi di CFA dan CSL, yang sejalan dengan kampanye anti-korupsi yang gencar dilakukan di berbagai tingkatan pemerintahan di Tiongkok saat ini
• Menciptakan kondisi yang kondusif untuk menarik kedatangan pemain-pemain dan pelatih-pelatih asing yang berkualitas

Reformasi dan revitalisasi CFA dan CSL juga akan dilakukan dengan secara pelan-pelan menjadikan CFA independen dari Pemerintah (sebagaimana harapan FIFA selama ini). Diharapkan CFA dan CSL nantinya akan diisi dengan professional dan berorientasikan bisnis. Artinya, CSL dan masing-masing klub anggotanya akan di-manage bagaikan perusahaan, dan harus untung secara finansial.

 

Selain itu, Pemerintah RRT juga telah mengundang IMG Worldwide Inc untuk me-manage CSL secara professional. Pemerintah Pusat masih mengawasi CFA dan CSL, tetapi keberadaan pejabat-pejabat pemerintahan dan PKT semakin dikurangi. 

 

Tiga target jangka panjang 50 Point Plan di bidang sepakbola yang diinisiasi Presiden Xi Jinping adalah: 1) membentuk basis yang kokoh bagi pengembangan Timnas Tiongkok yang kompetitif di ajang internasional, dan dapat masuk ke putaran final Piala Dunia; 2) menjadi tuan rumah Piala Dunia; dan 3) menjadi salah satu kandidat juara Piala Dunia

 

Wolfie for a day…

A Blue Samurai ad in Tokyo

I’ve always had a special spot for the Japanese national football team: the Blue Samurais.  More so than the Taeguk Warriors of South Korea, or even my country’s Garuda team.  We all know about Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, and many other Japanese stars who have in the past plied their trade in Europe.  However, it wasn’t before the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar that I finally figured out who my favourite Japanese player is.

In the first round of the competition, Japan was losing to Jordan, until in the 92^nd minute right defender Maya Yoshida scored a header, jumping into the cross from the left like a kamikaze hitman.  But it wasn’t Yoshida who captured my attention; it was the player who made that sublime pass.  A looping cross, the ball was struck so cleanly that the only thing Yoshida had to do was present his head at the end of the pass.  And that pass came from, none other than, the captain: Makoto Hasebe.

As the Asian Cup competition progressed, so did the way Japan played.  They demolished Saudi Arabia 5-0 and won 2-1 against Syria, with one less men.  In the semi-finals, they defeated South Korea in one of the most exciting games I saw that year.  Extra time didn’t suffice, and it needed a penalty shoot out to decide that giant-fest.  In the final, Japan eased over Australia 1-0.  And throughout this run of good results (I watch every single game of the Japanese side), my eyes were constantly glued to the play of Captain Hasebe.

With my cherished Hasebe shirt

Hasebe personifies skill, hard work, determination, vision, and of course, leadership.  He may not be as creative as Yasuhito Endo, but the Japanese midfield needed someone who could win balls, and that job fell to Hasebe.  Neither is Hasebe a prolific scorer like Shinji Okazaki and Keisuke Honda.  However, the Captain did manage to get his name on the list of the tournament’s scorers when he sent in an opportunistic shot into the Syrian net.  And I was told that Hasebe doesn’t have a flashy girlfriend like Shinji Kagawa’s celebrated JAV Actress girlfriend Ameri Ichinose.

On the field, Hasebe oozes coolness and level-headedness.  He is not flashy, yet effective in his approach towards the game.  I guess, he would be any coach’s perfect “quarterback”, relaying instructions to the rest of the team.  And off the field, Hasebe is known to be a down-to-earth person, who features in numerous charity advertisements.  I saw an interview of him on German TV on youtube once, and he was full of smiles, speaking broken German.  For Japan, he is the perfect Captain.  And for me, he is a perfect model, someone I aspire to (but could never be) whenever I step on to a football pitch.

My respect for Hasebe would also translate into a new interest in his club, Vfl Wolfsburg, and the Bundesliga as a whole.  In 2011, Wolfsburg was a mediocre team.  But three years earlier, it had been the Bundesliga champ (it’s first ever in history), becoming one of the few German teams that could break the Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund domination of the league. 

Hasebe's public ad in VW Arena

This season, the team aren’t doing so hot either.  Their midfield relies too much on the Brazillian Diego, who awesome, but only human, and can have “off days”.  The front is led by Croatian Ivica Olic, who is still a killer striker, but not the same player he used to be in Munich.  The back-line has its gems, in the form of Naldo and Simon Kjaer.  But in general, there is obvious weakness to a side that has often resorted to placing Makoto Hasebe (a midfielder) as a left-back.

Yes, I originally liked Wolfsburg because it was Hasebe’s team.  But in the last two years, I have come to like the team just because.  I am a new Wolfie, and proud to be one.

And so, when I found out that I would have a “free” day during the visit to Berlin, and that the “free” day coincided with a match-day in Wolfsburg, I could only think about one thing: get myself to Wolfsburg, get a ticket, and watch the marvel that is in store for me.

On that bright Saturday, I got to Berlin’s Haupbahnhof at 9 o’clock in the morning and purchased a round-trip ticket on the DB’s Inter-City Express (ICE) train, which travels as fast as 300 km/h.  I still didn’t know if I’d be able to watch the game because I was unable to buy a ticket online.  And so, during the one hour trip from Berlin to Wolfsburg, I was very anxious, full of hopes, and fearing that I may have to settle with just visiting the city of Wolfsburg and the VW Autostadt, but not getting a seat in the stadium.

The majestic VW Arena

Upon my arrival in Wolfsburg, I was greeted by the awesome site of the Volkswagen factory, its smokestacks standing tall.  And to its side, the Autostadt, looked awesome, particularly the car vending machine which was copied in the last Mission Impossible movie.  But the most captivating sight actually lied further east of the beautiful river… It was the Volkswagen Arena, home of the wolves.  I wanted to deny it, but it surely felt like love on first sight.

I went into Wolfsburg downtown in search of the Vfl Wolfsburg fanshop, still anxious for a ticket.  And when the lady at the counter said that there were still tickets available, my heart almost burst with happiness.  50 Euros, but I didn’t even think twice about buying the ticket.  After spending some time at the fanshop buying souvenirs and fan items, I head straight to the stadium.

I was told that VW Arena only fits around 30.000 people.  But from the outside, it was as majestic as any of the stadiums I had ever visited: Upton Park, Loftus Road, Stamford Bridge, GBK, and Camp Nou.  Inside, it was even more magnificent.  Wolfsburg and Schalke fans mingled, brushed against each other, buying beer and sausages.  It was an ocean of green and blue.  I was a neutral, wearing black, but showed my affinity for the host team with a toque emblazoned with the W of the Wolfies…!

Wolfie toque and camera on hand

I sat myself seven rows from the green pitch, almost smack on the halfway line.  Around me were Germans, both wearing green and blue.  And next to me, a couple of Japanese girls, fully decked in Makoto Hasebe and Atsuto Uchida (he’s Schalke’s right back) fanwear.  I didn’t understand any of the languages spoken around me, but somehow, I felt very much at home.

And then, the PA announced the arrival of the host team.  And to my glee, Makoto Hasebe was assigned to lead Wolfsburg’s warm-up session.  This was a sign, Hasebe would be a starter on that day’s game, and I would be able to see my hero in the flesh.  I couldn’t stop taking photos; I was pretty sure that many other people there thought I was in the same group as the Japanese cuties seating beside me.  I didn’t mind; at times I wish I was Japanese.

As the warm-up session ended, people began to enter the stadium, and the noise started to build up.  The local fans were loud, especially those in the area across from where I sat.  The visiting fans were as loud.  I have to say, thumbs up should be given to those Schalke fans who have made their way to Wolfsburg that day.  The PA announced the line up, mentioning the players’ first names one by one so that the entire stadium could say together their last names.  And when the PA called out “Makoto…”, I blurted out the loudest “HASEBEEEEEEE…!!” of them all.

The game kicked off on time, true to the German culture.  And Makoto Hasebe played as a right-back, occupied constantly by the hard-running and persistency of Schalke’s  Michel Bastos.  I have to say, Hasebe actually did a good job; Bastos became very frustrated and his movement was curtailed to the side of the pitch.  Hasebe even made a last second tackle to avoid a goal by Klaas Jan Huntelaar. 

But of course, I noticed right away that Schalke was just too powerful upfront.  They had Bastos, Huntelaar, Jefferson Farfan, and the sublime Julian Draxler.  Their defence was so-so, but Wolfsburg’s firepower was not like the past, when Grafite and Edin Dzeko used to score like crazy.  Ivica Olic huffed and puffed, but he wasn’t creative enough, and his linkage with Bas Dost was limited.  Diego was shut down in the middle, and his assistant, Josue, looked too tiny to compete with the big Schalke players.

Celebrating Olic's goal

Schalke scored in the first half, but Olic brought the host to level five minutes into the second half.  For a moment hoped sprung in me that my team would be able to win the game.  But that hope began to slip away as Draxler once again put the visitors ahead with a spectacular goal.  On the 73^rd minute, Hasebe was substituted, looking exhausted.  As well, coach Hecking may have wanted a more offensive option down the flank.  But with the departure of Hasebe, the defense crumbled.  The score at the end of 90 minutes was 1-4 for the visitors.

After the final whistle, I stayed in the stdium longer, trying to suck as much of the air as possible.  I didn’t want the feeling to end, and I made a promise to return again one day.  The train ride back to Berlin would be long, I thought.  But it would be a memorable one.

I had the time of my life.  On that sunny (yet chilly) Saturday

On a nice afternoon

afternoon, I felt like a local.  I drank beer, ate sausages, queued for the toilet, and was hackled and intimidated by a group of Schalke fans, as I walked to the train station with my Wolfsburg toque and bag.  I heard the songs of the fans, none of which I understood, but felt as much part of.  I jumped with joy when Olic scored, just like the other Wolfies, and sank my head when Schalke pounded “our” net with four goals.  Yes, I truly felt that it was “our” net.

On that glorious day, I was a Wolfie for a day, and maybe forever, if I may.

Panda Futbol: My South American Experience in China

On its website, FIFA credited England for developing football into the “beautiful game” we have come to enjoy today.  However, it also took note of the sport’s Chinese roots, as follows:

“The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in China.  This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30-40cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes.”

And so, with that, we now know that football came from China.  And yet, if we were to look at the state of football in this country of over 1.3 billion people, then even the word “sorry” would be somewhat of an understatement.

Rowan Simons’ “Bamboo Goalposts: One Man’s Quest to Teach the People’s Republic ofChina to Love Football” is an excellent account of the trials and tribulations of promoting grassroots football in China. 

Rowan runs ClubFootball in Beijing, which organizes amateur leagues and competitions, mostly 5-a-sides.  During my three and a half years in Beijing, I played in a team that was part of that league.  We were called Suramerica, because most of us came from Venezuela and Colombia.  We also had Argentinians and Chileans.  I was the only non-South American, but because I spoke Spanish, Federico, our team captain, baptized me as an honorary Colombian by making me drink some very strong rum.

Playing with Suramerica was a whole lotta fun.  I wasn’t the best player in the team; in fact, I was actually one of its weakest links.  But the guys always made feel welcome, and there were times when my presence in the field was important to ensure that we had enough players to avoid forfeiting games. 

The guys were serious about football; so was I.  We were old-timers; diplomats or traders by day, footballers by afternoon, and salsa dancers by late nights.  We started in the third division and slowly climbed up to the second division.  Along the way, our uniform went from AC Milanesque black and white, to Tottenhamish white and blue, to Napoli-like baby blue. 

Yesterday. I searched the internet and looked up our team in the most recent edition of Club Football’s competition.  A photo showed a much younger team; nothing like me, Federico, or the other old-timers.  Apparently, since my departure, we have made it all the way to the first division.  We’re actually competing very well, winning last autumn’s league and being somewhere in the middle of the pack this time around.  Not bad at all..!

For me, playing with Suramerica was like being part of a community.  The Suramerica community, and even bigger, the footballing community of the capital city of the world’s next superpower.  It mattered that we won our games.  But it mattered more that we had the chance to enjoy the game that we love so much, the game that makes us all feel more alive, the game that’s more beautiful than Zhang Ziyi’s coquettish wink.  To be part of something, and that thing being a part of me.

My kind of football

Rowan explained in his book that this is exactly what’s lacking in the development of football in China.  While more and more people are becoming interested in big names like Barcelona, Manchester United, and Inter Milan, the interest in playing football locally, and nurturing local football is limited. 

Yes, it’s true that the Chinese Government have poured money to develop a competitive Chinese national team, however, its pursuit is mainly for glory (i.e. to raise China’s stature in international sports), and not the actual development of football in the country.  As a result, while the national team may be able to compete against the likes of Indonesia and Viet Nam, it always fail to be at par with the Japanese and South Koreans, which have national teams soundly rooted their respective local footballing communities.

And so, why is it that the birthplace of football is devoid of a strong footballing culture.  Throughout the book, Rowan provides glimpse of why this is so (according to my reading of the book):

1. For the longest time, any grouping of more than 4 people required a permit from the Government.  The Communist Government was, and continues to be paranoid about people getting together to form an opposition.  How can one have a football game with less than four people?  Well, I guess this explains why badminton continued to thrive while soccer dwindled to limited existence.

2. With the one-child policy in place, not too many parents are keen about their one and only son playing football, and risk the possibility of cuts, sprains or broken bones.  Yes, kids would be wearing Lionel Messi shirts in the malls, or while playing video games.  But, unlike kids from other parts of the world, Chinese kids are unlikely to end their days on a soccer pitch.  Their Messi shirt would remain pristine.

3. Historically, football flourished in Chinese cities conquered or ceded to foreign control during the latter parts of the Qing Dynasty.  However, this meant that football was only played by the elite, which had close contacts with the western people in those cities.  As a result, the sport (its modern post-Britain version) never gained popularity beyond the coastal cities.  That’s why Qingdao has a strong football culture, but not Xi’an.

4. Football is being run from the top down, with heavily involvement by the Government through Chinese sports association.  As a result, there is very little resource for regeneration.  National team players are not picked from a pool of players from amateur leagues, but nurtured in an alienated fashion only for the benefit of the national team.  Heavy Government involvement also ensures that if things don’t go a certain way, then the Government would intervene in some of the damnest ways.

5. Owners manage their teams like a subsidiary of their company.  They see things from a profit-loss perspective.  Players a bought and sold without paying so much attention as to how they matter to the team’s chemistry.  And when things start to go the wrong way, many owners simply abandon their projects, cutting all losses before they ebb to other parts of their businesses.  There is not enough heart in Chinese football leagues.

6. Clubs did not put effort into developing emotional ties with the community.  Three years in Beijing, and I’ve never seen any Beijing Guo An stuff, let alone a fanshop.  I was so desperate to get a Guo An shirt that I finally got one, from the internet, on Taobao, and not a fan website.  Shanghai people cared less about Shanghai Shenhua, until the team got big names on their roster.  And even then, people came to the stadium not necessarily to enjoy the football, but to see these players that the rest of the world regards as stars.

Kung-fu Football

Rowan ended the book with some positive indications, because if football is kept as simple as possible, then it would not require any effort at all to sow the seeds of the beautiful game in China.  I like idealists.  At the same time, Rowan highlighted that the problems facing football in China is very much symptomatic of the problems the country is facing, as it becomes the world’s economic powerhouse:

“The lack of space for team games such as football reflects the glaring absence of any kind of unifying social force in China today beyond money and a raw sense of nationalism that can rear its ugly head all too easily.”

Much lesson learned.  Can’t wait to play football in Beijing again.  However, this time around, I don’t thing I’m good enough for my old team.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll see if after these years amateur football has gained grounds in China, and set up my own team.