Sports

China, New Attraction For African Stars

Published

12 years ago

July 18, 2012

A new eastern frontier has opened up for African players, with a handful of the continent’s top names heading to China to play in its top flight, the Super League.

After Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba left newly-crowned European champions Chelsea for Shanghai Shenhua last month, a number of other seasoned African internationals have quickly followed suit.

Nigeria striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni departed English side Blackburn Rovers for Guangzhou R&F on a three-year deal, swiftly followed by Mali’s Frederic Kanoute, who signed a two-year contract with Beijing Guoan, having left Spanish side Sevilla.

They have now been joined by Kanoute’s compatriot, Seydou Keita, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Dalian Aerbin, after winning 14 trophies with Spanish giants Barcelona.

“ You cannot just take the money, have fun and come back, because when you go there and you don’t perform, they terminate your contract”

Former Ghana international Kwame Ayew

So, what is attracting some of Africa’s biggest names to China, besides the obvious lure of higher wages?

One of the wider benefits for the clubs is that the acquisition of such high-profile African names could well have its advantages off the field.

“China is expanding rapidly in mining and natural resources in Africa,” James Porteous of the South China Morning Post said.

“Perhaps the clubs also see opportunities to boost the marketing and political links between China and Africa in that regard.”

But the financial benefits are also a big factor in attracting players to China.

“The league – or at least a handful of clubs – is awash with money from club owners, who are often developers riding the huge property bubble in China,” Porteous added.

Current league leaders Guangzhou Evergrande are owned by Evergrande Real Estate Group, whose chairman Xu Jiayin is China’s richest man. He is said to have injected as much as US$70m in the club in the past couple of years.

The trend of wealthy owners injecting massive sums into football clubs is one that fans around the world are all-too familiar with.

What is unclear is just how big the sums involved are, in the relatively unheralded Chinese top flight.

Guangzhou Evergrande’s coach is the Italian 2006 World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi, who, with a reported annual salary of $16m, is now one of the world’s highest-paid managers.

As for the African recruits, Drogba is reportedly on around $350,000 per week, with Yakubu said to be earning an estimated $150,000 weekly.

While it is unclear how accurate these sums are, what is without doubt is that for players like Drogba and Kanoute, both 34 years old, the kinds of sums on offer make China an attractive prospect at this stage of their careers.

“Without knowing any of the players, I would suspect one last payday is the prime motivator for all of them,” Porteus said.

“However, once in China they will find a fast-paced, rapidly modernising country.

“Shanghai is as cosmopolitan as any world city and Drogba and [Nicolas] Anelka will have no shortage of luxury shops and restaurants to spend their money in.”

Yakubu, however, is insisting that money was not the reason he moved to China.

“After hearing the club’s plans, I realised I had to join. Money wasn’t a factor,” Yakubu said as he was officially unveiled by his new club Guangzhou R&F.

“Since Anelka arrived [at Shanghai Shenhua from Chelsea], more and more top-flight players are coming to China, and our arrival can help improve the quality of the nation’s football.”

The Super League sides will also hope attendances will be boosted by their new star attractions, with current gates at Shanghai Shenhua’s Hongkou Stadium averaging around just 10,000 fans.

Former Ghana international Kwame Ayew, who played in China for four years between 2002 and 2006, says he is “excited” by the fresh influx of African players into the country’s top flight.

“I am very proud because I was one of the first to go there. Now to have players like Drogba and Anelka going there, I feel very happy about it,” Ayew said.

“It’s not just about the financial incentives. It’s a different world, a different culture. Also, football is not really exported from China. They want the Chinese league to be known all over the world.

“Whether you like it or not, China is a rising power in economic terms, so why not in football? It is the reason why players in their numbers are moving to the Chinese league.”

Ayew, who is the brother of the former African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele, does have some cautionary words, however, for African players moving to the country where he was top scorer in 2004.

“A few African and European players and coaches have been there, and some of them had good experiences, but some did not.

“[That is] because it is very demanding. You cannot just take the money, have fun and come back, because when you go there and you don’t perform, they terminate your contract.

“This has happened to quite a number of people both from the west and from Africa that I know of.”

Stephen Fottrell

Sports

Chess Championship: Dan-Jumbo Emerges Best Female Player

Published

6 days ago

April 30, 2024

The Tide

The third edition of Naphtail Chess Open Championship which ended on Wednesday in Port Harcourt saw Rivers State born Queen Dan-Jumbo emerged best female player in the tournament following her impressive performance.

It was clash of the Titans as top Chess players in Nigeria gathered to chase honours.

The three days competition was held at Vee Hotel, Trans Amadi ,in Port Harcourt and over 80 players in Nigeria registered for the tournament this championship was recognised by International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Speaking with Tidesports in an exclusive interview on Saturday, Dan-Jumbo said her dream was to become Grand Master in Chess worldwide.

According to her, she started playing Chess at the age of 15 but went into it professionally in 2009 as she represented Rivers State in National Sports Festival (NSF) in Kaduna, the same year.

“I started playing Chess in the early 2000s. I picked the interest through my my elder brother as him and his friends always play Chess in our compound so I began to learn it.

” In 2009 I went to National Sports festival in Kaduna represented Rivers State and I won a silver medal on my board.

“In 2011 and 2012 NSFs I won two Gold medals each hosted by Rivers and Lagos States respectively. While in Edo NSF I won bronze medal” Dan-Jumbo said.

The Asari-Toru, in Rivers State born Chess player use the forum to advice upcoming Chess players to be focus, saying losing a game is part of every competition but the most important thing was that you don’t lose hope.

“My advice for upcoming chess players was that don’t lose focus. Even when you lose, find a way to adjust and get back out”, she added.

Tonye Orabere

Sports

Siasia Blames NFF Over FIFA Ban

Published

1 week ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

Former Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia says the Nigeria Football Federation supported FIFA to have him banned for alleged involvement in match-fixing in August 2019.
In a recent interview with Athlist, the 56-year-old, whose ban ends in a few months, said the NFF not only refused to support him but also carried out FIFA’s instruction not to let him know he was under investigation by the world football body.
“Nigeria abandoned me at that time of need; that’s my own take on how this thing played out,” the former Eagles striker and member of the 1994 AFCON-winning squad, said.
“It’s an allegation; they said bribery. What is bribery? Is it not when money changes hands? Was there any proof of that? There were none.
“I spoke with someone who was trying to hire me as a coach in Australia. I didn’t know the guy was a match-fixer, but FIFA knew this guy. Why would they allow him to be around any FIFA tournament?
“So, when they found out through emails, our correspondence about how this guy would take me to Australia, I played in Australia, so I felt it would be nice to go back there.
“We talked about how much salaries, transfers, bonuses, and sign-on fees were, and that was all.
“When FIFA was looking for me, I didn’t even know. I am not affiliated with FIFA; their affiliation is with the NFF. So, they went to the NFF and told them not to let me know that they were investigating me. But if they didn’t tell me, how was I supposed to defend my self Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
“Then we started to see how we could communicate with them to see how I could have a hearing. But they said the time had elapsed and I should go to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).

Sports

WADA Plans Review Of Failed Tests

Published

1 week ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will launch an independent review after 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.
WADA has said it was not in a position to disprove an assertion from the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) that contamination was the source of the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) for which the swimmers tested positive.
Findings of the independent investigation, led by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, are expected to be delivered within two months.
“WADA’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” said Wada president Witold Banka.
“WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favour of China by not appealing the CHINADA case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.”
United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Chief Executive Travis Tygart said WADA and CHINADA had swept these positives under the carpet, claims WADA described as completely false and defamatory while adding that it had referred the comments to its lawyers.
Aquatics GB said it was extremely concerned by the allegations, which it said threatened “potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport”.
WADA was notified of CHINADA’s decision in June 2021, ahead of the delayed Games, and said it had no evidence to challenge China’s findings and that external counsel had advised against appealing.
In addition to the independent investigation, WADA said it will send a compliance audit team to assess the state of China’s anti-doping programme and invite independent auditors “from the broader anti-doping community” to join the trip.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said: “While not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made against WADA, we wish to deal with the matter as quickly and as comprehensively as possible so that the matter is appropriately handled in advance of the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Details of the positive tests were revealed by the New York Times, which shared reporting with German broadcaster ARD.
China won six swimming medals at the Tokyo Olympics, including three golds.