China's ailing soccer league has been hit hard by a post-World
Cup "syndrome" as it's more difficult to bring the fans back to the
matches after the German World Cup, an official said?on
Tuesday.
Lang Xiaonong, director of the League Department of the Chinese
Football Association, said every match had witnessed slump of crowd
after the Super League resumed after the World Cup.
"In the past three rounds matches, every match can only attract
an average crowd of 9,000, but before the World Cup, the figure is
12,000," Lang said.
He said it was even worse for the first division league. "The
average crowd is only about 6,500 after the World Cup," he
said.
Chinese soccer league had already slumped to a crisis for match
fixing scandals in the last few years. During its heydays, every
top-flight league match could attract about 50,000 fans to the
ground.
(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2006)
