Zhou Haibin, playmaker of China's national soccer team and the Shandong Luneng club, has joined the Eredivisie powerhouse PSV Eindhoven club on a free transfer after his contract with Shandong expired at the end of the last Chinese Super League season.

Zhou Haibin takes part in a training session with PSV Eindhoven. [File photo]

As the Bosman ruling allows professional football players to move freely to another club at the end of their term of contract with their present team, free transfers have now become very common. However, things are different in China.

According to the regulations of the Chinese Football Association, players are not allowed to move within 30 months after a contract with their existing club runs out, which frees Chinese clubs from the worry that their core players will leave after their contracts have expired.

Obviously, the CFA's regulations conflict with the famous Bosman ruling. (In fact, such regulations are even against the new Labor Contract Law of China.) However, as a member of FIFA, Chinese clubs must comply with FIFA regulations when doing business with overseas clubs. In Zhou's case, the Bosman ruling applies. That's why people are calling Zhou "China's Bosman".

A real Bosman? Not quite

It is reported that Zhou has signed a secret deal with Shandong in which he agreed to make some economic compensation to his former club, a situation that is absurd but not unusual in China, where players are considered as national assets.

It is unreasonable to call Zhou traitor. As a player with no contract, he has every right to act as he has done. It is said that many Chinese clubs have rushed to renew their players' contracts in case they follow Zhou's suit.

In the meantime, let us be clear about this -- Chinese soccer's own internal processes are to blame here, and not anything else. In the context of globalization, CFA and Chinese clubs have a long way to go to get up to international standard. The first thing they should do is to amend and sort out the regulations. The CFA is preparing to introduce FIFA's transfer mechanisms to China -- a big step forward towards real "professional football" if they are successful.

(China.org.cn by Xiang Bin February 17, 2009)