Precis

China is the world’s rising superpower - but in the world game, it’s a pushover.

In the race for football’s great prize, the World Cup, it’s a perennial dud. Even in Asia it lags behind its neighbours.

But that may be about to change. National pride demands it.

"China has just exploded out of nowhere." – Trent Sainsbury, Australian Socceroo playing for Jiangsu Suning FC

Sainsbury’s club is owned by a giant electronics group which has splashed nearly $100 million on imported players in the past two years. It also spent $380 million buying Italian superclub Inter Milan – where Sainsbury is now on loan - in just one of a series of Chinese takeovers of European clubs. Other Chinese clubs spend even more.

"The Australian league is on a budget basically but over here there is no budget. Club owners can spend as much money as they please." – Trent Sainsbury

As China correspondent Bill Birtles reports, after decades of neglect, money is also starting to flow at grass roots level. Birtles travels to the backwater town of Zhidan where juniors coach Ding Changbao has pioneered a program that’s produced more than 80 players for clubs across the country.

"A lot of Chinese people are now flocking to football because they want their children to become stars." – coach Ding Changbao

Among coach Ding’s charges is rising star Gao Baosen, aged 12. He and his family live in a one room house and struggle to get by. But he dreams big.
"My dream is to be like Ronaldo, to be a professional player like him. I hope when I grow up I can look after my parents for the rest of their lives. I don’t want them to suffer." – Gao Baosen

Baosen and coach Ding are small pieces of the Government’s plan to have 50 million players and 50,000 coaching schools by 2025 – and, by 2050, to sit atop the football world.

Chinese team football game

Music

00:00

BILL BIRTLES:  It’s the world’s rising superpower, but in the world’s game, China’s a pushover.  That may be about to change.

00:05

Trent 100%

TRENT SAINSBURY: “China's just exploded out of nowhere”.

00:15

Children kids playing football

Music

00:17

Professional game

BILL BIRTLES: It’s now spending billions buying up star foreign players, coaches and top European clubs – and skilling up millions of youngsters. Tonight, we follow a star of tomorrow and a big name Aussie import, all part of China’s master plan to conquer world soccer.

00:25

Music

00:48

TITLE:  THE BIG GOAL
Reporter BILL BIRTLES

[Soccer crowd cheers]

00:52

Young boys training, including Gao Baosen

Super:
ZHIDAN, CENTRAL CHINA

Music

00:59

BILL BIRTLES:  Gao Baosen lives and breathes the beautiful game. The 12 year old is part of a grand ambition to turn China into a world soccer superpower, starting here in the little town of Zhidan in China’s central west.

01:10

GAO BAOSEN: “The very first time the coach saw me and asked me to play, I realised I liked it.

01:30

Gao Baosen 100%

After a while, I felt soccer was a part of me. I think about it all the time.

01:38

Baosen training

When I began to play soccer, my parents didn’t agree with me. They worried it would affect my studies. The coach rang my mum and said it was fine.

01:47

Gao Baosen 100%

So after that, Mum and Dad let me play. My study is okay”.

02:03

Baosen walking up hill near home

BILL BIRTLES: Baosen lives with his parents in their one room house on the outskirts of town.

02:12

Baosen washing

It gets cold in the winter. There’s not much in the way of mod cons.

02:20

GAO MAOQING: “Make sure you wash your face well for the game”.

02:25

Mother sewing/Family at home

BILL BIRTLES: Baosen’s mother, Shang Yingxia, sews for an income. The family has to get by on $70 a month, well below the household average even in this part of China.

02:34

His dad, Gao Maoqing, looks for casual work on building sites.

02:50

Mother 100%

SHANG YINGXIA: “Because the conditions here are not good, when he grows up he’ll find it very tough here. So I hope he can find a way to leave and be happy.

02:57

School children in school yard enter school

He really likes soccer, so we support him playing it.

03:09

Children in class

03:20

Baosen in class

He’s still very young, so we’ll wait and see how he develops when he gets older”.

03:9

Birtles greets Ding at sports ground

BILL BIRTLES: “Chairman Ding, very pleased to meet you”.

Ding Changbao is the man behind the junior squads here and the grassroots pioneer.

03:35

Children training

He’s made this small town famous throughout China for the quality of its young soccer players. For the past 13 years he’s been raising money to train and send more than 80 players to clubs across the country.

DING CHANGBAO: “China’s national team made the World Cup in 2002 but their performance was really bad.

03:47

Ding 100%

As a soccer fan, I was wondering what I could contribute to Chinese soccer. We thought we should start with the children, one step at a time.

04:11

Ding at training with children

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04:23

BILL BIRTLES: We train the juniors and eventually they may get into professional teams, or even the national team.

04:32

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04:39

BILL BIRTLES:  Some children look good now, but they might not develop. That will put them at a disadvantage but at least playing soccer will make them happy. It will be special for them, and this is another reason to play. Many Chinese people are now rushing to soccer because they want their children to become stars –

04:54

Ding 100%

otherwise they think it’s a waste of time. But we’ll use soccer to let children change themselves, let them enjoy it. I think this is more important”.

05:28

Students soccer training

BILL BIRTLES: The government plan is to have fifty million players and fifty thousand coaching schools within the next 10 years and for China to be a world soccer super power by 2050.

05:34

German coaches on sidelines

Ding’s arranged for a group of German coaches to help train the older students as well as talent spot.

05:53

Sebastian Rass and the coaches are on their first trip to Zhidan and they’re keen to spot young players who could one day train with them in Europe.

SEBASTIAN RASS: “I’ve seen the potential you will have after 15 minutes

06:01

Birtles and Rass on soccer field/Rass with kids

but if I want to see in which direction you can go later on, it’s great to have different stations to see him dribbling, shooting, running, a few movements and a little game. After one hour you know that’s a boy you can put your effort into or…”

BILL BIRTLES: “Or maybe not”.

SEBASTIAN RASS: “Go for fun”. [laughing]

06:14

Kids training

BILL BIRTLES: In the last few years there’s been a rush of European football schools to China and both sides feel lifting the game’s standard here

06:37

is something China can’t do on its own.

SEBASTIAN RASS: [German Football Academy] “I think a lot of new companies or schools will look at Zhidan and will copy it because they started a good project and now you can spread it out. But from my point of view, it’s really important for them to consult with European clubs or schools. They have the experience,

06:50

Rass 100%. Super:
SEBASTIAN RASS
German Football Academy

bring them in, let it explain, let them build up coaches here in China and then they could start”.

07:16

BILL BIRTLES: “What’s really amazing about all this is that these coaches have bypassed cities like Beijing and Shanghai to come here,

07:23

Birtles to camera at children’s training session

to what really is a very out of the way, remote town. It just shows that those in the know think that this here is the future of Chinese football”.

07:33

Students at school cafeteria

Not that the students themselves seem that interested in the home grown league.

07:44

Birtles with boys

BOY: “I like to watch European and American soccer matches”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Do you have a favourite team?”

BOY: “Brazil!”

07:55

BILL BIRTLES: “Brazil. Have you ever watched the Chinese league? Have you watched it on TV or online?”

BOY: “I’ve never watched it”.

BILL BIRTLES: “You haven’t watched it?”

08:08

Music

08:19

Nanjing. Night. GVs

08:28

BILL BIRTLES: Far from the cold mountains of Zhidan, more than a 1000 km to the east, is Nanjing, a bustling city of 8 million.

08:32

Trent walks street

Here, Australian Socceroo Trent Sainsbury is already living the Chinese football dream. He’s one of the star foreign players for the local club.

08:41

Birtles greets Trent

He’s taken to some of the local customs.

08:58

Birtles and Trent in tea house

TRENT SAINSBURY: “If it’s a really cold day or it’s been chucking it down outside, come inside and there’s a hot ginger tea waiting for you”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Right so it’s like a daily routine?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah, basically. I mean the Chinese are very set in their ways when it comes to the routine with the tea, especially after training”.

09:02

BILL BIRTLES: There’s less enthusiasm for other local cuisines.

09:19

TRENT SAINSBURY: “I mean I’ve tried duck tongue”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Yeah. How’d you go?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah it didn’t last long. No, it didn’t last long on my tongue put it that way. Spaghetti Bolognaise is, if they’ve got that on the, on the menu the foreign boys are basically happy”.

09:25

Trent signs jersey and ball

BILL BIRTLES: He was lured more than a year ago from a Dutch club with a surprise offer on a two million dollar transfer fee to come to a city he’d never even thought about.

TRENT SAINSBURY: [Jiangsu Suning player] “Of all places I don’t think this would have been in the top 100 to be honest. China, yeah I didn’t think I’d ever play in China to be honest. There was always the English premier league was always the top target for everyone and then obviously other European leagues,

09:39

Trent 100%. Super:
TRENT SAINSBURY
Jiangsu Suning player

but yeah China’s just exploded out of nowhere. And it gives great opportunities for players like myself to set themselves up after football while still enjoying themselves”.

10:04

Trent and Birtles in coffee shop. Birtles takes photo

BILL BIRTLES: Despite China never being on his radar, Trent’s making the most of the adventure.

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Just go over there embrace it and try and soak up as much of the culture as possible because you’re not really going to

10:14

Trent 100%

get much of a chance to say that, yeah, I lived in China. So yeah, when the opportunity came I took it with both hands”.

10:28

Trent and family in coffee shop

BILL BIRTLES: His family has flown from Perth for the first time to watch him play and the pressure’s on. Lately, the coach has been giving him less game time, triggering speculation that he may be on the way out.

10:25

Trent in on field training

His club, Jiangsu Suning, has no shortage of ambition or money. It’s owned by a massive electronics group that has splashed close to one hundred million dollars on big name imports in the past two years – and it’s not just spending in China. Suning bought Italian super club, Inter Milan, for 380 million dollars. It was just one of a string of Chinese takeovers of European football clubs.

10:49

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Obviously, some amounts of money that are getting thrown around just seem ridiculous, but at the same time I mean if you want to make a statement and you want to get your name out to the public, especially in Europe, it’s what’s necessary I guess.

11:17

Trent 100%

You see the Australian league is on a budget, basically, and over here there is no budget, so

11:30

Trent in on field training

club owners can just throw as much money as they please at players and get the best talent over here”.

11:35

BILL BIRTLES: This week Trent’s team is taking on its biggest rival, the champions Guangzhou Evergrande – owned by a property group and e-commerce giant Alibaba. Their squad is worth even more than Suning.

11:42

Birtles and Wu Hao in stadium

Top sports journalist Wu Hao says it’s a dream matchup.

11:56

Wu Hao 100%

WU HAO: “These two teams have the most international stars and the best Chinese players. So the fans don’t just want to see the result, they also want to watch a stunning performance”.

12:00

Nanjing game/Female fans

BILL BIRTLES: There’s a fair bit of anticipation for this game, already a sprinkling of fans have turned up on a random Monday afternoon to try and get a glimpse of some of these stars.

12:23

Young women fans

YOUNG WOMAN: “If we win this game it’s going to encourage our fans, our club to have more like improvement in next season. So we think this one is very important and also… we also think most of our football players are very hot.

YOUNG WOMAN 2:   We love it very much”.

BILL BIRTLES: “What do you think of the Australian, Sainsbury?”

12:35

YOUNG GIRL: “Oh I… actually I like him because he looks good also”. [giggles]

BILL BIRTLES: In the past two decades,

13:01

On field training session

Chinese football has mostly overcome rampant match fixing and corruption that once plagued the game, but one old problem remains.

13:12

Wu Hao 100%

WU HAO: “To tell the truth, Chinese football teams are only at a 2nd or 3rd class level among Asian football teams. So I think it’s difficult for the Chinese team to enter the World Cup at this stage. It’s impossible. As a journalist, I’ve worked in this field for many years. You could say I am a bit pessimistic, but it’s the truth.

13:21

On field training session

I don’t think spending all this money on players in the top teams is a good thing. There are many weaknesses in Chinese football. For example, so many students have no football classes at school.

13:37

Wu Hao 100%

Children in some poor areas don’t even have enough money to buy football boots. Of course these are extreme examples. But if we popularise soccer – encourage more children to play, and give them the time and funding to do so – the base of the national team will gradually become stronger”.

13:54

Marcello Lippi at media conference

14:13

BILL BIRTLES: To stem the spending spree, Chinese authorities recently moved to cap the number of foreign players clubs can field each match. But the big money keeps flowing. One club even tried to poach the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo with a 300 million Euro offer. And it’s not just about the players.

14:18

Birtles at media conference to camera

“Well, Marcello Lippi is just the latest in a long line of foreign managers to come and coach the Chinese national team. The fans are desperately hoping that he can find the sort of success that has eluded his predecessors”.

14:39

Photographers

MARCELLO LIPPI: “We have to become a team.

14:53

Lippi addresses press

The players have to get into their heads that being a team isn’t just wearing the same jersey and shorts. Being a team means helping each other, giving a hand to a player in trouble, and sharing the strengths of all the players in the team. I believe if we can grow like this, we can take on any team”.

15:00

Zhidan GVs

Music

15:33

Gao Baosen at home preparing for game

15:38

BILL BIRTLES: Back in the mountain town of Zhidan, it’s game down for young Gao Baosen.

15:43

Gao and parents walk to game

Adding to the pressure, his parents are coming to watch him play for the very first time.

“How is he today?”

15:52

Parents at game

GAO MAOQING: “Good”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Has he had breakfast?”

GAO MAOQING: “Yes”.

BILL BIRTLES: “So he should have lots of energy?”

GAO MAOQING: “Yes”.

16:00

Baosen and team play

Music

16:09

BILL BIRTLES: Baosen’s number eight. His team is the favourite to beat the opponents from a school across town.

16:15

Music

16:22

German coaches at game

BILL BIRTLES:   Under the watch of the German coaches.

16:30

Baosen and team play

GAO MAOQING: “I hope he scores several more goals. He’s already scored three”.

16:39

Baosen’s father at game

BILL BIRTLES: “Do you think they’ll win?”

GAO MAOQING: “Definitely, I’ve got a lot of hope”.

16:43

Baosen and team play

BILL BIRTLES: Leading 4:0 at the break, Baosen’s team is cruising to victory.

16:47

Scoreboard

GAO MAOQING: “We are very excited.

17:00

Baosen with parents

No matter where he competes, if he can reach this standard we’ll be very happy.

17:05

Baosen and team play

He’s travelled to other places to play, sometimes quite a long way, but we hadn’t seen him. Then seeing him play today, I’m very happy. I hope, no matter where he goes, he’ll play like he did today. That will make us happy”.

17:14

Baosen and team play

BILL BIRTLES: For Baosen it’s all about using soccer as a means to help his family.

17:31

GAO BAOSEN: “My dream is to be like Ronaldo, to be a professional player like him.

17:42

Baosen 100%

I want to join Real Madrid and to serve my motherland.

17:48

Baosen and father watch football game on phone. Mother sews

I no longer want to worry about my parents having to work so hard. I don’t want my dad and mum to suffer.

17:52

Baosen 100%

I can’t pay them back. I hope when I grow up, I can look after them for the rest of their life. I don’t want them to suffer”. [upset]

18:10

Nanjing GV

Music

18:27

Trent and Birtles exit hotel and drive away

BILL BIRTLES: In Nanjing, Trent Sainsbury is getting ready for his big match.

TRENT SAINSBURY: “We go into the training centre, do our last training session which will be on the stadium to familiarise ourselves with the pitch

18:30

Birtles and Trent in car

and then we’ll, everyone will get on the team bus and we’ll head off to the hotel for the night and do the video session and a bit of team bonding”.

BILL BIRTLES: “What does the team bonding involve?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Cards, tea - just basically sleeping in the same room as your roommate that sort of thing - lunches together and dinner”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Cards and tea, sounds very civilised”.

18:51

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah, yeah it can be”.

BILL BIRTLES: “What about your family? They’re going to be watching this game in the stadium. What sort of pressure

19:11

does that add?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “To be honest I won’t be thinking about it much when I’m on the pitch. Obviously, if I score a goal I’ll be looking for them in the crowd, so hopefully I can get my name on the scoresheet – but yeah, no it’s always nice having the family here cheering you on”.

19:18

Trent signs autograph for waiting fans

Music

19:31

BILL BIRTLES: “You’ve got some fans there mate”.

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Pretty standard, always waiting at the gate?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah you always get [INAUDIBLE] but it’s nice, it makes you feel wanted”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Yeah, well there you go. Mate, good luck, best of luck”.

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Thank you very much”.

BILL BIRTLES: “We’ll be watching the game”.

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Cheers. Enjoy it”.

BILL BIRTLES: “See you later. Good luck”.

19:39

Stadium/Supporters at game

Music

19:56

Baosen arrives at game with coach Ding

BILL BIRTLES: Among the fans some unlikely faces, Gao Baosen has made a 20 hour journey with coach Ding to meet the Aussie player and watch his first professional game.

20:02

DING CHANGBAO: [directing Baosen to stadium entry] “Keep going. It’s over that way”.

20:11

Crowd build up

Music

20:15

BILL BIRTLES: “This is a clash of the Chinese super clubs.

20:32

Birtles to camera outside stadium

Now admittedly, Jiangsu Suning and Guangzhou Evergrande are not really household names in world football, but if China’s ambitious plans for the game come to fruition over the next 30 years or so, they will be”.

20:35

Crowd build up. Fans chant/Baosen in crowd

20:48

Team enters stadium

BILL BIRTLES:  Trent Sainsbury has good news. He’s back in the starting line-up. A good performance in tonight’s big match could determine if Suning keeps him at the club.

2120

Game commences

Music

21:36

BILL BIRTLES:   The soggy pitch makes Trent’s job as a defender easier.

21:40

Music

21:44

Trent gets yellow card

BILL BIRTLES:  A second yellow card would see him sent off.

21:55

Game continues

Music

22:05

BILL BIRTLES: With the teams locked at nil all and half time approaching, a chance slips by and tensions threaten to boil over.

22:12

The battle of the Chinese super clubs will all come down to the second half.

22:30

Baosen at game

[Crowd chant]

22:35

Game resumes. Suning goal.

BILL BIRTLES:  As play resumes, Suning has more chances. Late in the game, a breakthrough.

22:44

Another goal. Players celebrate

And then the heavens open and for Jiangsu Suning, when it rains, it pours.

[on field] “How does it feel Trent?”

23:05

Trent in rain after game

TRENT SAINSBURY: Pretty good mate. Two nil but I’m more about the duck egg. I don’t care about scoring goals, as long as we keep a clean sheet. That’s a defender’s dream”.

23:26

Crowd in rain

BILL BIRTLES: “Rain didn’t matter?”

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Nah, rain’s good for ducks and football”.

BILL BIRTLES: “Enjoy it”.

23:24

Baosen outside stadium

23:46

Trent signs autograph for Baosen

“Hey this is Baosen. Baosen, how do you think he played?” He reckons you played pretty well. Any advice for a little boy who wants to play on the same field one day?

TRENT SAINSBURY: “Yeah work hard. Keep enjoying yourself”. [shakes Baosen’s hand]

BILL BIRTLES: For country boy Gao Baosen at his first ever professional match, tonight’s been a taste of what his own future might hold.

23:50

[continues]

TRENT SAINSBURY: “I’ll see you on the pitch one day”.

BILL BIRTLES: For Trent Sainsbury, this match turns out to be his farewell to the Chinese game. He’ll later land a plum deal to play on loan in Italy, with the Suning-owned super club Inter Milan – an unexpected path to Europe in the new era of Chinese football.

24:29

Credits:

Reporter: Bill Birtles

Producers: Charles Li, Cecily Huang

Camera: Wayne McAllister

Editor: Stuart Miller

Executive producer: Marianne Leitch

abc.net.au/foreign

© 2017

24:50

Outpoint

25:24