Ex-England coach and Shanghai SIPG manager Sven-Goran Eriksson claims that China could win world cup in 10 years. 

Eriksson's upbeat statement about Chinese football comes following news that the Chinese Super League has spent more money than the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga in the ongoing transfer market.  Several big football stars like Ramires, Jackson Martinez, Fredy Guarin and Paulinho have all signed to Chinese teams in the past month. Other football stars like Rooney, John Terry and Oscar have also been linked to Chinese clubs.                  

Like Us on Facebook

Chinese President Xi Jinping, a football fan, is believed to be the man who is engineering the ongoing revolution in the Chinese football league. Apart from taking keen interest in revolutionizing the domestic league, the Chinese leader has also taken special interest in building thousands of football academies across the country.

Eriksson said on Tuesday, ahead of Shanghai SIPG's Asian Champions League (ACL) clash against Melbourne Victory, that these efforts by President Xi are paying off.

"I think I'm at the right place at the right time. You can always feel how football is growing in China," he said. "I've been in Italy during the 90s when every player wanted to come to Italy because the football was very good, then I was in England during the 2000s and all the players wanted to go to the Premier League because of more money and the good football." 

"Now, in 2016, it seems that every player wants to come to China for the same reasons. [All the money] will make the clubs much stronger. Maybe 10 or 15 years ahead, I'm sure China's national team will compete well [enough] to win the World Cup." Eriksson said, according to Xinhua News agency. 

Eriksson's statement, however, appears to be overoptimistic and bereft of the harsh realities that the Chinese national team is currently confounded with. The Chinese national team is placed 93rd in current FIFA ranking. The low ranking only reflects the uninspiring performance of Chinese national team in recent years.   

The Chinese national team has failed to qualify for the last two editions of FIFA World Cup - losing almost all their qualifying matches on both occasions. 

However, under coach Alain Perrin, the Chinese team did manage to reach quarterfinals of Asia Cup, which was China's best performance in the tournament in a decade.  Since then China's performance again faltered, leading to Alain Perrin's dismissal last month.   

Many Chinese football experts feel that building Chinese football is a long term process and that signing big players and international coaches is a small, yet important step, in this long process.   

However, some experts argue that unless rich Chinese Super League clubs invest big money at the grass root level, China would not find home grown local stars, without whom the country will continue to struggle to win big international tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and the Asia Cup.

Tagssven goran eriksson, Chinese football, Chinese Super League