While the spending associated with Chinese football over the past 18 months has "shaken up the game's global order, the mood within the sport in the world's most populous nation has been steadily shifting," according to Michael Church of ESPN.com. Politically, socially and at an administrative level within the game, the int'l "frenzy associated with Chinese football is becoming of increasing concern." An editorial in the People's Daily -- one of the official media outlets of China's governing Communist Party -- in mid-December warned clubs not to "let money mortgage the future," while the Chinese Super League had proposed new regulations to limit the number of foreign players in the league. Attitudes "are changing." The People's Daily editorial said, "Many clubs' budgets on foreign players are over two-thirds of their entire expense. In the meantime, the youth system and infrastructure is not receiving enough funding." A "lengthy" opinion piece in such an influential outlet is a "sign that the political climate has been altered, with the continued struggles of the China national team underlining the need for investment to go into the grassroots rather than the pockets of players from overseas." And yet reports in the int'l media state Argentine int'l Carlos Tevez has "just become football's richest star" with a two-year deal worth £615,000 ($753,753) a week. Chinese football journalist Ma Dexing said, "We don't know how much Shenhua have spent because they haven't announced it, but there is no way the contract is worth what is being said in the Western media. This is just propaganda for the agents and the media." New regulations "threaten to have the biggest impact on the influx of talent." Until now, clubs have been granted a 4+1 quota "in which they can have five overseas players in their matchday squad, one of which must be from another Asian nation." However, teams "can field only three non-Asians at any one time plus their non-Chinese Asian player." The new rules "will see the number of non-Asian players in the squad reduced to three" (ESPN.com, 12/31).
