Abstract
PurposeIn 2017, the Chinese Super League (CSL), the first professional football division in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), became the highest-spending league in the international players’ transfer market, with a total spending of €377m. Moreover, the government of the PRC is backing the CSL with an ambitious football plan. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the governance of the CSL by questioning the organisational viability of the league.Design/methodology/approachIn addition to the relevant international literature, this study is based on 14 recent scholarly articles published in Mandarin from 2013 to 2018 to reflect the national academic debate. Moreover, website research on all CSL clubs has been conducted. The institutional analysis follows the integrative change model of Cunningham (2002) complemented by agency and bureaucracy theory.FindingsThe CSL still faces substantial governance problems caused by the divergence of goal setting, organisational inefficiencies and compliance issues. The organisational change is notably constrained by internal competitive value commitments and external power dependency.Research limitations/implicationsThe institutional findings on the CSL provide a starting point for empirical studies. The approach contributes to the theory of sport governance processes.Practical implicationsThe material and insights are informative for decision makers to evaluate the competitiveness of the CSL.Originality/valueThis paper is the first international in-depth analysis of the governance of the CSL using the body of knowledge published in Mandarin.
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