Chinese football league can rival English Premier League! Really?

There was a news report in yesterday's daily DAWN newspaper that English Premier League chief executive Richard ScudamoreRichard Scudamore believes that one day Chinese football league, known as the Chinese Super League, could rival the English Premier League. I would like to comment on this opnion by the English Premier League chief executive. I think Chinese league is far, far, from matching the standard set in English Premier League (EPL). And I say so for number of reasons. Firstly, I think, the fan following in China regarding football is way below compared to that in England. People go crazy during a football match. They are extremely involved in their teams performance that its not unusual to hear that fans will become angry after a poor performace by their team and a brawl between them would occur as a result of this. Football is like a passion in England, and people are immensely involved in the game. On the other hand, Chinese people, may be crazy about football, are not at all interested in their clubs. People hardly come to watch and support their teams during their matches. In fact, People prefer watching English Premier League rather than their own Super League. Hence, the fan following and the passion amongst people is different in England than in China with regards to their own clubs. And for this reason, I think EPL chief executive is wrong in saying that Chinese Super League (CSL) can rival the EPL in future.

Secondly, I think, the Standard of football played is different in EPL compared to CSL. If you watch CSL on TV you would realise that the level of skills that players have in EPL is way above the skills players have in CSL. Besides, the quality of the game is entirely different. In EPL, its highly competitive. Every game is a qaulity game. People get to see quality football with players displaying their exceptional skills during the match. CSL, on the other hand, lacks such quality. And due to this reason, I believe CSL cannot even come close to EPL.

Thirdly, the amount of money that is in EPL is way too much compared to that of CSL. The clubs in EPL spend heavily on buying big talented players from all across the world. CSL does not have this much money to spend. That is why they cannot attract their own people to watch their own club's matches. This also contributes towards lower standard of play during the game in CSL. CSL clubs would have to pour in huge sums of money to attract quality world class players to even come close to EPL. Besides money, Language and culture is also an issue for foreign players. Most players will have issue in adapting to chinese language and culture and weather. For this reason they would not prefer to play in CSL. Thus, all these factors contribute towards the poor quality of football in CSL and for all these reasons it is extremely hard and difficult for Chinese Super League to come even slightly closer to English Preimier League. The EPL chief executive in my opinion himself does not know the prestige and quality attached to the League. I think, Chinese Super League is far, far behind the English Premier League and it can never match it.