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Football coaches in the Chinese Super League rarely last very long. Will Wardrop takes a closer look at what can be a short-lived career.
Focus on the Chinese Super League over the last few years has largely been on the high-
profile players moving East.
Oscar, Carlos Tevez, Paulinho, Hulk, the list goes on.
As a result, the high standard of the CSL’s managerial talent is often overlooked, even if their shelf-life may not be as high as other leagues.
The Serbian Wenger?
Of the current crop of Chinese Super League managers only two have been in their jobs
longer than 18 months.
Hebei China Fortune’s Manuel Pellegrini is a household name in Europe for his spell
managing Real Madrid and for winning the Premier League with Manchester City.
Pellegrini’s time in China is soon approaching an impressive, in CSL terms that is, two years.
But that’s a year less than the Chinese Super League’s longest-serving manager, Dragan
Stojkovic.
Stojkovic, whose YouTube showreel is a thing of beauty, spent most of his playing days in Serbia before moving to Nagoya Grampus, managed at the time by the soon to be departing Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger.
The Serbian speaks highly of Wenger’s stewardship, with both men often claiming to share
similar views on the game.
Indeed Stojkovic was one reported as the man Wenger himself wanted to replace him at the Emirates.
After spending five years playing at Grampus, Stojkovic returned in 2008 as coach, winning
the club’s first J League title two years later – a feat not even Wenger could muster.
Stojkovic had obviously caught the bug for Asian football.
When Guangzhou R&F came knocking in 2015, Stojkovic jumped at the chance to manage in the CSL and has been doing a quietly impressive job ever since.
The long and the short
Could Stojkovic’s reign at R&F outdo Wenger’s 22 years at Arsenal? It seems unlikely,
especially when considering the short-termism of some managerial appointments in the
Chinese Super League.
After just eight games of the 2018 season, three managers have already been relieved of their
jobs.
Dragan Talajic and Ma Lin were sacked after less than four months from Henan Jianye and
Dalian Yifang respectively.
Former England National Team boss Fabio Capello also lost his job at Jiangsu Suning in March after less than a year in charge.
Fabio Capello lost his job as Jiangsu Suning coach in March 2018.
The longest-serving, and successful, managers in the CSL over the last few years have all had
one thing in common – World Cup-winning pedigree.
Guangzhou Evergrande has dominated the Chinese Super League in recent years, winning
each of the last seven CSL titles.
Six of those seven titles have been won by World Cup-winning managers; Marcelo Lippi (currently earning a living as China’s national team coach) and Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Marcello Lippi became manager of the China national team in October 2016
Both served three seasons at Evergrande, longer than the CSL’s longest-serving manager
Dragan Stojkovic.
Longevity doesn’t guarantee success, but no team has been successful without stability.
With so few managers in the CSL serving for longer than a year, it appears the winner of this
season’s Chinese Super League will be the coach who finds that stability.
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