Portugal’s second-division clubs are disturbed over plans to impose Chinese players on the league as part of a sponsorship deal with a Chinese company.
“They can’t force Chinese players on us, it should be an option,” Segunda Liga head Jose Godinho told reporters on Wednesday.
He was speaking after Monday’s signing in Beijing of a deal with Ledman Optoelectronic Co, a lighting manufacturer based in Shenzhen.
The agreement allows for “10 Chinese players and three assistant coaches to join the 10 best clubs in the Portuguese second division to improve their level,” Ledman said in a statement.
However, Godinho said that clubs had made it clear throughout negotiations that the arrival of Chinese players should always be an option, not an obligation.
The deal has also raised concerns with the Portuguese professional soccer players’ union.
“We don’t understand why the league is allowing a company to force players on to clubs and their managers,” union president Joaquim Evangelista said.
The league sought to put the clubs’ minds at ease.
“There will be an exchange of footballers, but the league guarantees that nothing will be imposed on the clubs,” Segunda Liga media officer Germano Almeida said.
According to a specialist sporting rights lawyer, the clubs’ fears are unfounded.
“No one can force a club to hire a player, it’s forbidden by FIFA’s rules, by the Portuguese football federation and by the League,” lawyer Joao Manteigas said.
“The regulations are even stricter for foreigners,” he said, adding however that “there is a way around them by offering clubs a premium for hiring Chinese players; as long as nothing is mandatory it’s perfectly legal.”
As talks were held with Ledman last year, second-division clubs laid out a proposed compensation package for taking on Chinese players.
They asked for 20,000 euros (US$22,000) the first year and 100,000 euros the fourth year for accepting three players and an assistant referee.
A Chinese player’s time on the field should earn them several thousand euros, said clubs, who wanted 20 percent of any transfer fee when a player moved on.
None of these figures have been confirmed by the Segunda Liga, which has also not confirmed the length of the sponsorship, nor if the league will be renamed “Ledman Proliga,” as the company has announced.
The multinational is already involved in the sport as sponsors in the Chinese first and second divisions.
This is not the first time China has looked to Portugal to raise the standard of Chinese soccer, currently ranked 82nd in the world.
Oriental Dragon, launched in 2011, has about 30 players based in Portugal with various regional outfits.
Some of these players are already under contract with first-division sides in China.
Monday’s deal is not the first breakthrough for China in European soccer.
Manchester City last month sold 13 percent of its shares to a consortium of Chinese investors for about 375 million euros, while earlier last year real-estate and entertainment giant Wanda took 20 percent of Atletico Madrid for 45 million euros.
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