China tries to end the beautiful game's ugly reputation
Angus Walker
Former ITV News Correspondent
Didier Drogba has confirmed that he's signed with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua FC.
Shenhua is one of the top teams in China and the move will see the former Chelsea star join his ex-team mate Nicolas Anelka.
The two and a half year deal will see him at the club until the end of 2014. Drogba will fly out to join the squad in July.
Drogba said:
It looks as though Shanghai Shenhua is becoming the LA Galaxy of the East. It's taste for top talent approaching the twilight of their careers is an expensive habit. Drogba's wages are rumoured to be around 200,000 Euros a WEEK. Although, it should be said, the Ivorian player is known to be spending millions on projects like new hospitals back in his home country; Ivory Coast.
Talking of money, the Chinese league is riddled with corruption, more than fifty players, officials and even China's top referee have been jailed this year alone for taking bungs and fixing games. No wonder the ref was known as 'golden whistle'.
The level of dodgy dealing has at times become embarrassingly evident, with one team memorably trying desperately to score an own goal so they could lose and their boss could win his bet.
Young aspiring footballers simply can't rise to the top in a crooked system, there's no incentive when results are fixed. It's a sad situation.
No surprise China is nowhere near being a World Cup contender. All the more striking when you compare the awful standards of Chinese football with the achievements of the country's Olympic athletes. Heading to London now, the Olympic teams will be defending their top of the table Gold Medal tally won during Bejing 2008.
The number of convictions does appear to reflect a move by the government to clean up Chinese football. China's leaders are trying to end the beautiful game's ugly reputation. Perhaps a realisation that as the sport becomes more popular at home, the chance to shine away, on a world stage, becomes more attractive.
Let's hope Drogba gets a league winner's medal after his first season in China and let's hope his team wins fair and square.
As more high profile players join lucrative teams in China, the more public scrutiny the Chinese game will be under.