Some of Europe and South America's biggest players have quietly moved to the Chinese Super League (CSL) for insane amounts of money. In fact the CSL has spent more on new players than any other league in the world this year.
On top of that is the geopolitical angle. Chinese conglomerates are buying up Western teams - at the apparent encouragement of the government. Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan are just some of the giant clubs part-owned by Chinese companies.
Make no mistake, the world's most populated country wants to run football one day by creating the biggest national league in the world, owning the biggest European teams, and winning football's biggest tournaments.
Keep scrolling to see how China will soon take charge of the beautiful game: