China won’t be playing in Brazil – they have appeared at a World Cup just once and failed to score a goal – but millions will stay up late to watch the games, probably starting this Friday at 4 am when Croatia kicks off against the host nation in São Paulo. Here are 10 things in this year’s World Cup with a Chinese connection.

The Balls

As with many, many other things, the official World Cup match balls — the Brazuca — have been made in China. Or at least some of them. Adidas contracted its long-time partner and supplier, Guangdong-based Longway, to make the ball after engineers and developers from both companies developed the Brazuca (notable for its thermal bonding, we’re told). But there was one problem: Longway couldn’t cope with the unexpected demand, and Pakistan’s Forward Sports was drafted in to share some of the load. 

The Fans

Shankai Sports, FIFA’s official VIP package supplier for China, says it has sold about 1,500 packages for wealthy Chinese fans traveling to Brazil, more than twice the number it sold four years ago. In addition, there will be thousands of others making the trip from China on their own.

Tencent and… Mo Yan?

Yup, that’s right, the Chinese Nobel Prize Winner That China Recognizes. Tencent, which has previously hired soccer stars Lionel Messi and Neymar to promote its WeChat app, has sent 33 staffers from China to Brazil to cover the tournament, in addition to the people it already has on the ground. But writer Mo Yan will also be watching the final in some sort of Tencent capacity. No one is really sure if he’s even a soccer fan, but we’ll find out soon enough.

Xi Jinping

Talking of the final, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been invited by his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, to watch the final on July 13. The big man is known to be a big footy fan and just so happens to have a BRICS summit in Brazil on July 15. It would be great if he wore a Chinese national team shirt to the game, but don’t hold your breath.

Panda Power

Paul the Octopus had an 85% success rate predicting the outcome of games at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, but he’s dead now. Mani the Parakeet tried to assume the mantle but only got it right 71% of the time. Enter China’s Panda Predictors. Last time we checked, the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center was still deciding whether its baby pandas would be asked to choose foods with national flags or climb trees with national flags. Either way, it’s sure to make for gripping television.

Sick Notes

Speaking of TV, the time difference in Brazil means that the majority of games will kick off at midnight, 3 am and 6 am in China. It’s a brutal schedule suitable only for the most hardened insomniacs or work-shy students. As a result, online scammers are selling fake sick notes for specified future dates to coincide with probable World Cup hangovers. They’re selling for as much as 300 yuan (close to $50), which, judging by the abundance of quality forgers in China, seems to be a little steep.

The Sponsors

Budweiser, Castrol, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s… and Yingli. That’s right, the Chinese solar company is an official World Cup “Sponsor” (one level below “Partner” and one level above “National Supporter”). It was surprising when Yingli signed on for the 2010 World Cup, but even more eyebrows were raised when it re-upped for 2014. Estimated cost? Up to $30 million. By the way, when you see Harbin claim to be an official World Cup beer, it’s legit — its owner, Budweiser, is allowed to designate brands to represent it in certain territories.

Lottery Boost

Match-fixing is banned and (hopefully) now out of the Chinese game, while gambling is confined to Macau, but lottery companies are preparing for a World Cup windfall. Sports lottery sales doubled during the 2010 World Cup to 4 billion yuan ($640 million). and US-listed 500.com said online lottery sales in China are expected to jump by at least 70% this year, from 42 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) in 2013, due in part to the World Cup. One small problem: no official licenses have yet been issued.

Chinese Representation

Ireland played in the 1994 World Cup with a team at least half of whom were patently not Irish, so perhaps China has some defectors in the ranks of other teams, as they do in table tennis? Sadly not, but there are six players from the Chinese domestic leagues who will be in Brazil with their national team squads: three Koreans — Park Jong-woo (Guangzhou R&F), Ha Dae-sung (Beijing Guoan), Kim Young-gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande) — as well as Australian Ryan McGowan (Shandong Luneng), Honduran Osman Chavez (Qingdao Jonoon), and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Zvjezdan Misimovic (Guizhou Renhe). We wish them well.

Online Boost

Finally, the World Cup mode of computer game FIFA Online 3 hasn’t quite stayed true to form in China. That’s because China publisher Tencent begged developer EA Sports not to make the Chinese players too crappy. Zheng Zhi, for example, was given an average of a five-percentage point boost across the board in various skill categories, while striker Gao Lin was another who got some help behind the scenes. The jokes write themselves.

Mark blogs at China Sports Insider. Follow him on Twitter @DreyerChina. His last piece for us was a preview of the Sochi Olympics.

SCHEDULE (all times China; the first letter represents the group)

Friday, June 13:

A: Brazil vs. Croatia, 4 am

June 14:

A: Mexico vs. Cameroon, midnight
B: Spain vs. Netherlands, 3 am
B: Chile vs. Australia, 6 am

June 15:

C: Colombia vs. Greece, midnight
D: Uruguay vs. Costa Rica, 3 am
D: England vs. Italy, 6 am
C: Ivory Coast vs. Japan, 9 am

June 16:

E: Switzerland vs. Ecuador, midnight
E: France vs. Honduras, 3 am
F: Argentina vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6 am

June 17:

G: Germany vs. Portugal, midnight
F: Iran vs. Nigeria, 3 am
G: Ghana vs. United States, 6 am

June 18:

H: Belgium vs. Algeria, midnight
A: Brazil vs. Mexico, 3 am
H: Russia vs. South Korea, 6 am

June 19:

B: Australia vs. Netherlands, midnight
B: Spain vs. Chile, 3 am
A: Cameroon vs. Croatia, 6 am

June 20:

C: Colombia vs. Ivory Coast, midnight
D: Uruguay vs. England, 3 am
C: Japan vs. Greece, 6 am

June 21:

D: Italy vs. Costa Rica, midnight
E: Switzerland vs. France, 3 am
E: Honduras vs. Ecuador, 6 am

June 22:

F: Argentina vs. Iran, midnight
G: Germany vs. Ghana, 3 am
F: Nigeria vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina, 6 am

June 23:

H: Belgium vs. Russia, midnight
H: South Korea vs. Algeria, 3 am
G: USA vs. Portugal, 6 am

June 24:

B: Netherlands vs. Chile, midnight
B: Australia vs. Spain, midnight
A: Croatia vs. Mexico, 4 am
A: Cameroon vs. Brazil, 4 am

June 25:

D: Costa Rica vs. England, midnight
D: Italy vs. Uruguay, midnight
C: Japan vs. Colombia, 4 am
C: Greece vs. Ivory Coast, 4 am

June 26:

F: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Iran, midnight
F: Nigeria vs. Argentina, midnight
E: Ecuador vs. France, 4 am
E: Honduras vs. Switzerland, 4 am

June 27:

G: Portugal vs. Ghana, midnight
G: United States vs. Germany, midnight
H: South Korea vs. Belgium, 4 am
H: Algeria vs. Russia, 4 am

June 29:

A1 vs. B2, midnight
C1 vs. D2, 4 am

June 30:

B1 vs. A2, midnight
D1 vs. C2, 4 am

July 1:

E1 vs. F2, midnight
G1 vs. H2, 4 am

July 2:

F1 vs. E2, midnight
H1 vs. G2, 4 am

July 5:

Quarterfinal 1, midnight
Quarterfinal 2, 4 am

July 6:

Quarterfinal 3, midnight
Quarterfinal 4: 4 am

July 9:

Semifinal 1, 4 am

July 10:

Semifinal 2, 4 am

July 13:

Third-place game, 4 am

July 14:

Final, 3 am

The first event of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia begins in about twelve hours, with the opening ceremony happening on Friday at 8 pm Sochi time (midnight for those in China). By now you’ve probably already decided to watch on the decent chance that it becomes a delightful disaster, but lost in all the stories about stray dogs, toilets, substandard facilities and Potemkin villages is the fact that sports will be on display. China is seeking to improve on its performance from Vancouver 2010, at which it tied its all-time high with 22 medals and set a new team record with five gold. Here’s your guide on five things to watch for out of its 139-member Sochi delegation.

1. Can Fan Kexin be a successful stunt double?

Short track speed skater Wang Meng is China’s most decorated Winter Olympian and was considered as near a certainty in the 500m event in Sochi as you’ll find in the sport. But it’s a dangerous discipline, and a collision with an as-yet-unnamed (and no doubt very unpopular) male teammate in training just a few weeks ago left her with a double ankle fracture and her Olympic dreams in tatters. China will now hope that Wang’s back-up, Fan Kexin, can keep the gold medal in Chinese hands: Fan has the talent to win in what is now a wide open race, but she’ll face fierce competition from a South Korean trio that includes 17-year-old Shim Suk-Hee as well as contenders from Italy and Canada.

Heats, February 10; final, February 13 

2. Will China clean up in the aerials?

While China is a bona fide Summer Olympics power, a 7th place finish in Vancouver four years ago was the only time China has placed in the top 10 in nine attempts. But well respected stats agency Infostrada Sports is predicting that China will sweep the medals in the freestyle skiing aerials events for both the men and the women.

For those unfamiliar with this sport, it’s essentially gymnastics on skis, and China has successfully transplanted a number of former gymnasts to create a formidable team to rival its diving and table tennis outfits at the Summer Olympics.

Of all the names to watch in Sochi, Xu Mengtao will be desperate to banish the memories of four years ago in Vancouver: she led after the first of two jumps in the final but couldn’t stick the landing on her second jump and finished 6th. The event is now an elimination final instead of a combined points score as before, and that could benefit the consistency of the Chinese team.

Women, February 14; men, February 17

3. Will China retain its figure skating title?

In Vancouver, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo – a couple both on and off the ice – broke decades of Russian and Soviet dominance to win gold in the pairs’ figure skating event. Pang Qing and Tong Jian – who are also romantically involved – won silver after setting a new world record in the free skate element of the event. But they were inevitably overshadowed at every turn by their teammates Shen and Zhao. The golden couple has now retired, but Zhao is one of the national team coaches and will be doing all he can to help Pang and Tong move up from silver to gold. Tong, incidentally, is the oldest member of the Chinese team at 34, and will carry the Chinese flag at Friday’s opening ceremony.

Pairs, February 11-12 

4. Can Jiangsu province win any medals for China?

The vast majority of China’s 66 athletes hail from northeastern Heilongjiang province, and the vast majority of those come from the frozen city of Harbin. A few stragglers come from Jilin and Liaoning – the other two provinces in the top right corner of the country – while just two athletes come from Jiangsu, located on the east coast just above Shanghai. And that’s it. The other 29 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, SARs and Otherwise Clumsily Named Areas account for a combined total of zero athletes.

Those two from Jiangsu? Qi Guangpu, who has a good chance in the men’s aerials, and Ning Qin, China’s sole moguls competitor, who spends most of her time training in Whistler, Canada, but is a long shot for a medal at best.

Women’s moguls: qualification, February 6; finals, February 8

5. Who will thank the motherland?

And, more interestingly, who will not? Historically, Chinese athletes are expected to thank the motherland above all else – including their own mother. Short track speed skater Zhou Yang was criticized by China’s deputy sports minister for thanking her parents but not her country after winning gold in Vancouver four years ago. Don’t be surprised if she again chooses mother over motherland if she wins in Sochi.

Similarly, Li Na’s speech after winning the Australian Open last month trended on Twitter as #funniestspeechever, though naturally some on Weibo pointed out that while she thanked her coach, husband, agent, sponsors, fans and pet goldfish Nemo, she failed to mention her country. Reaction online in China was largely positive, though, with only the usual state media suspects banging the China Is Fully Responsible For All Victories drum, so attitudes have definitely come a long way. But that won’t stop the controversy should a Chinese athlete show less than the obligatory 110% patriotism. And God help them if they thank one of China’s 10 foreign coaches instead…

Mark blogs at China Sports Insider. Follow him on Twitter @DreyerChina

The Wall Street Journal revealed on Friday that China’s airports are the world’s worst for flight delays. “According to FlightStats, which tracks airport statistics, Beijing’s airport ranks dead last among the world’s top 35, with fully 82% of flights failing to leave on time,” WSJ reported. “Second worst was Shanghai, at 71%.” Numbers, numbers. We could link to a string of posts from our archives with picture and video evidence, but none of it will feel as real as our memories — after all, we’ve all experienced the particular nightmare of flying in China. Below, some of our stories.

Mark Dreyer, founder of The Li-Ning Tower:

July 4, flew into HKG from SFO at 6 pm, was then booked on the 8 pm Air China flight 112 to PEK. 8 pm was cancelled, so was switched to flight 114, previously delayed, now due to leave 8.30 pm. That was also cancelled, so I was switched to flight 110, previously delayed, now due to leave at 9 pm. We boarded at 9.30 pm, doors closed, told we had no take-off slot – could be 10 minutes, could be 3 or 4 hours. Right at midnight we left the gate and took off. Once we were in the air, captain told us that he got the call at midnight from Air China to cancel the flight and while he was on the phone, air traffic control gave him permission to take off. So he had to promise to Air China that he would taxi at double speed and then fly as quickly as possible to arrive on time. Issue was that if we had landed at PEK past a certain time, they would be given a hefty fine so that it would no longer have made economic sense to fly the plane.

This was all to get up to Ordos for work. Leaving Ordos was eventful: Group 1 left Sunday night, flight Ordos-PEK cancelled, so they drove to Baotou for another flight to PEK. Sat on the runway for many hours, finally left at 5 am, diverted to Shijiazhuang, then bus to PEK, arrived about noon Monday (missed all onward onnections to rest of Asia).

Group 2 (me) left on the 8.30 am Monday morning flight, half an hour delayed but back to PEK no problem, easily beating Group 1 back to PEK.

Groups 3 and 4 left on the Monday afternoon flight back to PEK, told all flights were cancelled and/or no time slots yet assigned. Group 3 chartered a bus for a 17-hour journey back to Beijing. Two hours later, Group 4 boarded and flew back to PEK.

What I’m getting out of this is cancellations happen sometimes.

Alicia, founder Prep! Beijing: 

As a former management consultant, I used to travel between Beijing and Shanghai every week for close to five months, leaving for Shanghai on Sunday evening or Monday morning and coming back to Beijing on Friday evenings. I’ve encountered my fair share of delays and flight cancellations (and, consequently, fights), for various reasons: snowstorms, rainstorms, and, mostly, “air traffic control,” especially on a Friday when all business travelers rush to go home. On top of these “normal” reasons, Expo 2010 strained the aviation industry, and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Terminal 2 didn’t open until March 16, 2010. There were no high-speed G trains yet, either.

I still remember once flying back from Shanghai to Beijing — guess on which airline? — and being told to go to my gate to wait for the new departure time. After changing gates, the plane finally arrived from Beijing, one and a half hours late. One and a half hours later, we boarded. An hour later, we were still on the tarmac, and then, finally, eventually, mercifully, told to get off the plane. Mechanical failure. By that point, travelers were so angry that they had to give us food, drinks and RMB 200 each (score! cash!). I don’t remember what time we eventually took off, but it was well over midnight, and I wasn’t back in Beijing till 2 or 3 am.

Avoid night flights between Beijing and Shanghai. Got it.

Sarah Hansen:

The recent downpours in Beijing have been affecting planes. No, not because the acid is burning through the wings. Rain creates flight delays that bring to mind the snaking lines at the bus stop, the bank, and the bathroom. However, none of those can compete with a day at the Beijing Capital Airport when rain is afoot.

During a heavy rain the night before my trip, I learn that my flight to Erlian is delayed two hours.

In the morning, I find that the crusty vestige of the original Beijing airport called Terminal 1 is not my favorite place.

From the grand hall of Terminal 2 to the squished space of Terminal 1, problems abound. The damn voice broadcasting over the P.A. keeps saying so. Self check-in is an elbow to the rib waiting to happen so I make my way to the counter, and the process is quicker than expected, and my departure time is still set for 9:30 AM [laugh track].

The information screens, steps from the wand-wielding security personnel, are lacking in helpful numbers. Passengers build into a thick human clog and look upon the screens as though they might soon reveal the meaning of life. Craned necks, and shuffling feet – can’t be much longer. Now it can’t be much longer. Okay, now? I judge it time to venture off to the restroom with the knowledge that a watched pot never provides gate information.

The women’s bathroom and the expected line.

Back to the screens. No go. Stranded passengers are having a looped conversation along the lines of: “Where’s my gate? They haven’t shown them yet. Where’s my gate? They haven’t shown them yet. Where’s…”

Passing security and airline representatives are not only unhelpful but downright disdainful towards those who dare to ask for more information.

Bathroom round two. Longer line, more smells and sounds.

Screens part three. Why can’t they just tell us to go to a made-up gate?

I head off to find the poor soul who drew the short straw at the info desk, but as I approach him – FINALLY a gate number appears! Leaving… several hours from now. Fine.

Being a vegetarian in this terminal means that I am reduced to some packaged faux peanut butter faux chocolate cookies and banana milk to appease my gurgling stomach. And the waiting continues.

I contemplate the strange five-minute trip across to Mongolia that I still have ahead of me, and then – HOORAH, another line forms, this time to board the plane!

My day is starting to look up when I find myself alone in my row, and I drift off. I wake up almost an hour later and find my ass still planted firmly on the tarmac. Apparently, we are in yet another line, this one consisting of planes.

The engines do finally rev, and the flight attendant announces our happy departure. Less than an hour after that we touch down and emerge into a scorching hot, sunny day. Irony flies Hainan Airlines apparently.

NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING.

And finally, the most nightmarish story of them all, via Andray Abrahamian, Korean scholar, Choson Exchange writer:

Me: have any horror stories from chinese flights?

Andray: Sitting on a plane in the tarmac while Murray was winning wimbledon…my country’s seminal sporting event of probably this century

I mean, they knew the storm was coming. Let us sit and watch sports history unfold in the terminal instead of spending almost three hours on the tarmac with only Yanjing beer for comfort as howling winds and rain lash the plane.

Air China loves to cancel their flight to PY [Pyongyang] without warning. You’ll get there and then they say, sorry, there is two much wind in PY, we can fly. Or there is a blizzard. You get there the next day and there is no snow.

Me: Did you get the game any way? Following on iPhone? Radio?

Andray: I followed the game via texts and calls to Tori, who was watching with a pack of expat Brits.

Boarded after the first set, took off after he’d won.

Chinese airports are the worst.

I call it the Weibo Rule (though in my head, Kripke from The Big Bang Theory is the narrator, and it’s the “Weibo Wule”). Take any China number widely quoted in Western media and divide by 10.

Forbes proved the rule recently, pushing the “Sina Weibo has more than 500 million users” line when, by Sina’s own admission, active users are under 50 million. Here’s Forbes again, this time on why 14-year-old Chinese golfer “Guam” (sic) Tianlang’s heroics at the Masters make him a golf ambassador to “billions.” (I’m not picking on Forbes, just the low-hanging fruit.)

And now here’s the New York Times, in an otherwise decent article, parroting the line that as many as 300 million TV viewers watched Chinese boxer Zou Shiming’s professional debut last month.

It’s one thing for the advertisers, the promoters and the spin men to push out some headline numbers (and then explain in the small print why those numbers might be misleading). That is, after all, their job – to hype up their chosen field and get the moneymen drooling. A quick Google search, for example, will show you all manner of media saying that Manchester United have 108 million fans in China, when of course they have nothing of the sort. But it certainly helped the club’s IPO go that much more smoothly.

Is China really still that unknown in the West that readers – or, more crucially, writers – just swallow these inflated numbers without questioning?

In Greg Bishop’s NYT piece, he paints a picture of the aging promoter Bob Arum, for whom China just happens to be the Next Big Thing in a lifetime of Next Big Things. China is not exactly an untapped market these days, but the numbers can be used to make a compelling picture. Quite where the organizers came up with a figure of 300 million TV viewers for the Zou Shiming fight is anyone’s guess (a guess is likely what it was). A more rational total – taking into account all the usual asterisks when dealing with opaque Chinese data – would be closer to 30 million.

Let’s not forget, though, that lost somewhere in the hyperbole about how the Chinese will soon dominate golf, tennis and the rest is a huge amount of potential, of which at least some will be realized. Sina Weibo might not have 500 million users, but 50 million still equates to an awful lot of page views, trumping all but a handful of sites worldwide. Back in the sports world, don’t expect the Chinese to ever become as dominant in tennis and golf as they are in table tennis and badminton, but we will undoubtedly see more athletes of the caliber of Li Na and Guan Tianlang.

HBO broadcaster Larry Merchant’s comments on boxing’s global expansion could just as easily be applied to China’s entire sports industry: “The number of zeros on the estimates are staggering, unprecedented and tantalizing to a promoter. Where it goes, nobody knows.”

Mark blogs at The Li-Ning Tower. Follow him on Twitter @DreyerChina

Any reference to Chinese golf sensation Guan Tianlang inevitably mentions his age, and rightly so: the kid is just 14 and, in 14 and a half hours (12:24 am local time), will become the youngest ever to play in the Masters by a full two years. But in a reworking of an old sports cliché, age is temporary, class is permanent.

Guan Tianlang was born to play golf. He has already been in the sporting spotlight for at least eight years, but the factor that has been consistent is his ice cool temperament. Those around him talk glowingly of his level-headed manner, and ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski described Guan’s expression as he qualified for the Masters by winning last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship as “somewhere between comatose and a guy reading federal tax code.”

If that all sounds a little, well, dull, remember that in golf, boring wins tournaments. That could all change, of course, once the millions start pouring in, and Guan discovers things like girls and nightclubs (see: Woods, Tiger), but for now, golf is his life and he seems to be enjoying it. He’s had practice rounds at Augusta with many of the game’s top players, posting pictures of his playing partners both on Twitter and Weibo, and happily engaging online with his growing army of followers.

Guan won’t win the Masters anytime soon. For one thing, he hits the ball far, far shorter than most of the pros, and at a course like Augusta, that’s not going to cut it. But he’s left no stone unturned in his preparation, and has a decent chance of finishing as the top amateur, if only an outside chance of making the cut.

A lot of people have noted that Guan uses a controversial belly putter – a snide way of explaining away his talent. But aside from the fact that recent major champions Ernie Els, Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson have all used them, it’s worth pointing out that Guan only converted to the belly putter after relocating to the US and picking up the habit there. Blame the rulebook if you like, but don’t belittle a 14-year-old Chinese kid for adopting an American trend.

Future success, of course, is not guaranteed: for every Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson, who have converted strong amateur careers into even better professional ones, there’s a Mitch Voges or an Eric Meeks who have remained in obscurity in the amateur ranks.

But Guan Tianlang isn’t alone. Along with fellow Chinese youngsters Andy Zhang and Ye Wocheng, aged 15 and 12 and also playing in top-level pro tournaments, Guan is leading golf’s next power shift. They, and others, are almost exclusively relocating to the US to hone their skills, and are lucky enough to come from families who can support them until the sponsors take notice. But, one way or another, Chinese golf is on the rise.

Greg Norman said in 2010 that within 20 years, East will be beating West in golf. At the time, that seemed wildly optimistic. Right now, though, it’s looking pretty conservative.

Mark blogs at The Li-Ning Tower. Follow him on Twitter @DreyerChina

The latest penalties in China soccer’s match-fixing drama have been a long time coming – several players, officials and referees were already sent to prison last year – but as announced Monday, they were still fairly significant. In summary:

• Shanghai Shenhua stripped of the 2003 league title
• Two teams docked 6 points each going into next year
• One team docked 3 points
• Three teams fined 1 million yuan
• Four teams fined 500,000 yuan
• Five teams’ registration annulled
• 33 individuals banned for life (eight players, seven CFA officials, four refs, 14 club/league officials)
• 25 individuals banned for five years (seven players, three league officials, 15 assorted club officials)

A few things stand out. First, a reminder that long before the failed Drogba-Anelka experiment, Shenhua used to be quite good. Yes, they bought the title in 2003 (though quite why they had to fix a game against the now-defunct Shaanxi Guoli, a club that finished bottom of the league by eight points that year, is beyond me). But prior to 2011, the club had finished outside the top six just three times in 29 years. Their last two finishes? 11th and 9th.

Second, the decisions being made often seem to be pretty random. It was known a decade ago that Shenhua was up to no good, but the decision was previously made to punish the individuals involved and not the club, under the specious reasoning that the individuals had already departed, so it would be unfair to punish the club. So why the change now? Six points is a huge amount in a league as tight as the CSL, so Shenhua will have their work cut out for them to avoid relegation. The other team docked six points, Tianjin Teda, is in the same predicament.

Despite this announcement, however, the popular opinion among fans online is that the teams got off too lightly, and that the punishments will have little effect. For comparison’s sake, Italian side Juventus was initially sent down two divisions in 2006 for match-fixing, though that was later reduced on appeal, and they played in Serie B (Italy’s second division) in 2006-07. Closer to home, Chinese teams have previously been relegated outright for match-fixing.

Soccer in general — and particularly in this part of the world — is corrupt. Exhibit A: Europol’s recent bombshell that up to 700 matches around the world look suspicious, and that ringleaders of Asian origin are to blame.

China’s own soccer scandal has dragged on for so long that most fans know to remain skeptical. But – insert huge caveat here – the worst finally appears to be in the past, and the league can now concentrate on improving the quality of the product. Clubs could do worse than looking closer to home for future success, rather than overpaying foreigners for instant (and largely ineffective) remedies.

Mark blogs at The Li-Ning Tower.