China's first division association football competitions Chinese Super League has reportedly outspent the English Premier League by a huge $100 million in international signings during this year's winter transfer window.

ESPN reported that "teams in the Chinese Super League splashed some serious cash on overseas imports during the close season", outspending the cash-rich English top flight by more than $100 million.

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Brazilian Alex Teixeira ended up with the current Asian transfer record of $55 million after he was snagged by Jiangsu Suning from Ukrainian Premier League side FC Shakhtar Donetsk on Feb. 5th.

The record was actually broken four times during the winter window as Chinese football clubs, particularly those in the CSL, have heeded the call of Chinese president Xi Jinping, an avid football fan, to support the development of the sport countrywide.

Xi is reportedly aiming for China to be a major world player in football and wants the country to one day host and possibly win the FIFA World Cup altogether.

The record was first surpassed when Guangzhou Evergrande sold its Brazilian striker Elkeson to Shanghai SIPG for $19.8 million early in the winter window. It was broken again when Jiangsu signed another Brazilian, midfielder Ramires, out of the EPL's defending champs Chelsea FC for $35.2 million on Jan. 27th.

A week later, the record was crushed by the $46.2 million signing of Colombian striker Jackson Martinez by Guangzhou Evergrande from La Liga giant Atletico Madrid before it was finally broken by Jiangsu's deal with Teixeira.

The report said that the EPL had spent only $181 million in transfers from Jan. 1st to Feb. 1st, the country's winter transfer window timeline, as compared to the CSL's $296 million expenditures on international players from Jan. 1st to Feb. 26th, China's winter transfer window.

TalkSport noted, though, that in the same EPL transfer period the CSL had only spent $58 million, which means that most of the China top flight's big signings were done from Feb. 2nd to Feb. 26th when the English window is already closed.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Jiangsu Suning FC, Alex Teixeira, Premier League