Title Races, Relegation Dogfights, and the Spectre of Match-Fixing: The Chinese Football Podcast

The CSL takes a two-week international break after getting through ten rounds in seven weeks – we survey the battlefield at the top and the bottom, with Shandong dropping out of the title race and Henan getting dragged down into the relegation scrap – could an out-of-sorts Shenhua yet join them?

A varied mailbag of listener questions has the pundits wading through the mid-table mire from Guangzhou R&F in sixth through to a resurgent Dalian Yifang and their future prospects – and there’s also a brief foray into continental action as we assess the damage done in Quanjian’s 2-0 reverse in Japan,

Recent alleged goings-on in League One see us touch on a less savoury topic, too – just why is corruption and match-fixing a particularly sensitive issue for Chinese football, and how much progress has been made in recent years – and how much further is there still to go?

The Chinese Football Podcast is hosted by Wild East Football’s Steve Crooks, joined by Chinese football experts Brandon Chemers in Beijing Cameron Wilson in Shanghai.

Stream the cast using the player above, subscribe on itunes, listen on Stitcher, download or check out other subscription options.

The Chinese Football Podcast is pleased to be sponsored by Football Shirt Memory – the number one CSL shirt retailer in the West. Check out their wares here.

Don’t miss the chance to get involved in the discussion on Twitter at #chinafootypod – we love hearing feedback and do our best to field your questions and suggested topics each and every week.