Recently, the head coach of Wuxi Women’s Football Team in Jiangsu, Chen Wanting, was suspended for one game and fined 5000 yuan by the Chinese Football Association for “irresponsible comments” without specifying the exact reasons for the punishment. It is believed that she had criticized the Chinese Football Association’s system, which may have led to her punishment, sparking public attention.
According to an official announcement from the Chinese Football Association on August 8, during the 80th match of the 14th round of the Women’s Super League between Guangdong Women’s Football Team and Wuxi Women’s Football Team on August 2 in Shenzhen, Chen Wanting, an official of Wuxi Women’s Football Team, made “irresponsible comments that had a negative impact” during the post-match press conference, resulting in a one-game suspension and a fine of 5000 yuan.
Chen Wanting, born in October 1988 in Hong Kong, China, has served as a women’s football player in Hong Kong and the head coach of Hong Kong Eastern Football Club. In 2016, she led the Hong Kong Eastern Football Team to win the Hong Kong Premier League championship, becoming the first female coach in the world to lead a men’s football team to win the top league championship of a member country. In 2019, Chen Wanting served as the head coach of the national women’s youth football team U16. Since March 2022, she has been the head coach of Wuxi Women’s Football Team in Jiangsu.
The punishment of Chen Wanting, the head coach of Wuxi Women’s Football Team in Jiangsu by the Chinese Football Association, has sparked strong attention and criticism online because the decision of the punishment has been made without clearly specifying the reasons for it.
A popular Weibo user, “Hungarian investor Qu Lei,” believes that Chen Wanting had criticized the Football Association: “The system issues remain unchanged, no matter how much money is spent on achievements.” Therefore, she was criticized and suspended from coaching. Many netizens have expressed opinions such as, “Speak the truth and stir up trouble,” “If the problem cannot be solved, they will eliminate the one who raises the problem,” “Telling the truth only gets you punished,” and “They dare to penalize but not to speak up.”
On August 11, mainland China’s veteran sports journalist Yin Bo expressed in a post that even the Chinese Football Association dare not clearly indicate the reasons for punishing Chen Wanting. The legitimacy of the punishment can be easily speculated.
Yin Bo pointed out that Chen Wanting had previously criticized the Football Association in interviews with Xinhua News Agency and on her social media accounts, directly or indirectly pointing out the Football Association’s lack of soft power and poor management capabilities. Whether Chen Wanting’s criticism is right or wrong is subjective, but the Football Association’s attempt to silence her through punishment exceeds its authority.
Yin Bo’s analysis suggests that from the severity of the punishment imposed by the Chinese Football Association, it appears that the organization has long held a negative view of this outspoken female coach from Hong Kong, and they may have intended to use this punishment as a warning to others.
“In the past, the Football Association has employed various covert methods such as playing tricks and utilizing official resources to discipline disobedient subordinates. However, publicly punishing speech as a crime is unprecedented in the case of Chen Wanting, causing a public outcry,” Yin Bo sarcastically remarked. The Football Association did not anticipate that Chen Wanting’s originally insignificant act of offense would become widely known overnight due to their punishment. They tried to throw a stone at others’ heads but ended up hitting their own feet.