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Story highlights
- Poyet: China wants worldwide league
- Uruguayan coaches Shanghai Shenhua
- One of many star names moving to China
(CNN)Money appears to be no object in the Chinese Super League, as some of football's biggest names are being lured to clubs that previously flew well under the radar of most fans.
Shanghai SIPG paid $63 million to sign Oscar from Chelsea, while Shanghai Shenhua made 33-year-old Carlos Tevez the highest paid player in the world, offering him reported wages of $765,000 -- double the amount Cristiano Ronaldo earns.
But while the capture of big-name and big-money players has created waves around the football world, the gradual influx of highly-regarded coaches has caused little more than a ripple.
Bundesliga CEO on the Chinese digital market 02:30
Going into the 2017 season, 13 out of the league's 16 teams are managed by foreign coaches, including 2002 World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari, English Premier League winner Manuel Pellegrini, multiple German Bundesliga champion Felix Magath and former Chelsea, Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg manager Andre Villas-Boas.
There's also Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and former Yugoslavia skipper Dragan Stojković, who was a European champion with Marseille.
Another former international star now coaching in China is Gus Poyet. The Uruguayan enjoyed a successful spell with Chelsea and won the Copa America as a player, before managing Brighton, Sunderland, AEK Athens and Real Betis.
While many have written off the CSL as a lucrative payday for players wanting to wind down their careers, Poyet is happy to defend the Chinese government's ambitious project of making the country a global football superpower.
China aims to become a football superpower by 2050 02:00
"I think the league is getting better and better," the new Shanghai Shenhua coach told CNN's World Sport show ahead of this weekend's opening round of games. "In the beginning, most people thought it was only about the money.
"It's true there is plenty and it is difficult to explain it, but now they are bringing players that are younger, that are at the top of their form and the competition is becoming more and more difficult.
"So I think slowly what they are trying to do is make it a worldwide league, not only for the people in China but a league that everybody would like to watch all over the world."
Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Oscar signed for Chelsea in 2012, scoring 38 goals in 203 appearances. At Shanghai SIPG, he'll be earning a reported $491,000 a week.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
No wonder the fans are celebrating. It might not be seen as a traditional football superpower, but Chinese clubs have splashed out millions of dollars on some of the world's top players -- and not just for Oscar...
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Brazilian striker Hulk moved from Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg to Shanghai SIPG for a reported fee of $61 million. Here he celebrates bagging a goal against Henan Jianye, only to be carried off injured minutes later.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
In the wake of heavy spending throughout the transfer window, Jiangsu Suning FC agreed a landmark deal for Brazilian trickster, Alex Teixeira. The former Shakhtar Donetsk man cost just shy of $56 million.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
In February, Chinese football club Guangzhou Evergrande paid $45.8 million to sign Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martinez.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
A former club-mate and compatriot of Oscar, Ramires was signed by Jiangsu Suning of the China Super League from Chelsea on January 27, 2016 for a reported initial fee of nearly $28 million.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Corinthians playmaker Renato Augusto reportedly turned down a lucrative offer from a German club to join Beijing Guoan. "There was a very good offer from Germany, three times more than I make here at Corinthians," Renato was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post. "But then came an offer I couldn't refuse."
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Darko Matic (R) has had a lot to celebrate since moving to China nearly 10 years ago. He's now plays for Changchun Yatai Matic, has learned Mandarin and is considering remaining in the country after his career ends.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Former Arsenal and Roma winger Gervinho (seen playing for Ivory Coast) completed a transfer of nearly $20 million to Hebei China Fortune in the China Super League.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Colombian Fredy Guarin (right) was moved by Inter Milan to Shanghai Greenland Shenhua for a reported fee of $14 million in January 2016.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (R) attending a training session of his previous team Shanghai SIPG. Eriksson signed former Sunderland and Al-Ain striker Asamoah Gyan last year, and moved to Chinese League One side Shenzen FC earlier this year.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Former Brazil and Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari -- now head coach of Asian Champions League winners FC Guangzhou Evergrande -- reacts during the international friendly match against Bayern Munich on July 23, 2015.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Erik Paartalu (#6 with former team Brisbane Roar) lasted one year in the Chinese Super League with Tianjin Teda F.C. -- an experience he called "one of the most challenging times in my life, but also one of the most rewarding."
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury has found a welcoming home in China, where he has remained since 2010. He is pictured celebrating after his team, the Beijing Ducks, won their first-ever Chinese championship behind his 41 points in March, 2012.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Alibaba founder Jack Ma purchased a 50% stake in FC Guangzhou Evergrande earlier this year, representing a new wave of businessman investors in Chinese soccer.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Didier Drogba (far left) and Nicolas Anelka (second from right) attending a training session in Shanghai. Their spells in China didn't last long though and the pair exited in 2013.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Shanghai Shenhua fans reacted with fervor after Drogba arrived at Pudong international airport in Shanghai on July 14, 2012. Though Drogba was reportedly signed on a £200,000 per week salary, he left China only six months later.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
An Ultra supporter of Beijing Guoan shows a tattoo of the team's badge during a match against Chongcing Lifan.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
There are growing legions of ardent supporters and fans of Chinese football clubs. The government is also trying to foster a football culture in the country by mandating football programs in 20,000 Chinese schools in a plan devised by President Xi Jinping to make China a football power.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
This photo taken on June 20, 2015 shows fans (foreground) wearing the colors of the Beijing Guoan team as they watch the team's Chinese Super League match against Tianjin Teda in Beijing.
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Photos: The big-spending Chinese Super League
Chinese football's top tier is now the most watched league in Asia, and in a strictly controlled society matches offer the rare sight of tens of thousands of people in spontaneous displays of emotion, joy and anger.
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Domestic development
Led by president Xi Jinping, China is aiming to create a domestic sports economy worth $850 billion by 2025.
For the next stage of development of both the CSL and the Chinese national team, Poyet argues the key is to attract younger players.
Can China win a World Cup with this 'football factory'? 03:07
"I think the government has put in plenty of interest," the 49-year-old said. "It is trying to make sure that -- there are so many people here and there are so many possibilities -- the bigger football becomes, the more important it's going to be, or the better it's going to be for the national team.
"They're trying to make an impact on the Chinese players and make the competition better by bringing in younger players like Axel Witsel and Oscar," he added referring to the Belgium and Brazil internationals.
"We play this weekend the first game of the league against Roger Martinez who is only 22, a Colombian player. These signings make the Chinese players get better quicker and have a better national team.
"I think it's more about football at the moment but, of course, to make people come here, they have to have a very, very strong economical push."
Poyet was appointed by Shenhua just over two weeks after being sacked by Spain's Real Betis.
Adapting
While he feels fortunate to live in the "magnificent and impressive" city of Shanghai, Poyet admits the move to China has taken some adjustment.
As well as adapting to new surroundings off the pitch, new rule changes mean CSL managers will now need to adapt on it.
Xi Jinping: Chinese president's $300m 'happiness plan' 02:20
A limit of three foreign players has been placed on all 16 teams, meaning Poyet will have to cut two of his five imports -- including Tevez -- from his match-day squad each week.
If Tevez is left twiddling his thumbs, could the Argentine end up regretting his move to China?
"Well I hope not," Poyet says with a laugh. "He needs to play and he needs to do very well. At the moment he's very happy, he's adapting as well.
"It's difficult for me, yes, as a manager. I like to make decisions but you try to make players happy and enjoy football, and every week I'm going to have to leave two foreigners in the stands, not even on the bench.
"To rotate will depend on results and how the team is doing."
Oscar celebrates after scoring in Shanghai SIPG's 5-1 Asian Champions League win over Australia's Western Sydney Wanderers on February 28.
Ranieri to China?
There is now one unemployed manager in particular who will be looking for work.
Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to a seemingly impossible Premier League title win last season, was sacked last week just nine months after his team was crowned champion of England.
Leicester City sacks manager Claudio Ranieri 02:36
While Poyet believes the Italian would be a leading candidate to make the move to China, he also admits he continues to be surprised by the unpredictability and ruthlessness of football.
"I think he would be one of the first names (to come)," Poyet said. "I hope nobody loses their job, okay, because we are in this world that if Claudio Ranieri can lose his job, anyone can lose their job, no?
"I can lose it tomorrow! I mean, how are you going to explain you losing your job when a person like Claudio, after what he's done at Leicester, lost it?
"It's something that football is like nowadays, I think we don't get surprised anymore. We just need to get on with it and expect the unexpected."
