Fang Hao (right) of Beijing Guoan vies for the ball against Yahav Gurfinkel of Chengdu Rongcheng on March 29, 2025 at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. Photo: IC

In the first home game of the 2025 season of the Chinese Super League (CSL), Beijing Guoan drew 1-1 with Chengdu Rongcheng in front of 52,982 fans at the Workers' Stadium on Saturday. 

In the last minute, Guoan assistant coach Ramiro Amarelle waved his hands and protested to the referee who blew the final whistle as Guoan appeared to mount a final attack. 

Despite playing with one man down for nearly 30 minutes, Guoan had only two shots on target to Chengdu's 10. 

The midfield and forward line failed to deliver the fluid attacking play that fans had hoped for from the beginning of the new season when former Barcelona coach Quique Setién was appointed to upgrade Beijing's possession-based play.

Joining Setién's coaching staff was Spanish beach football legend Amarelle, who told the Global Times in a recent exclusive interview "We have seen improvements but we have to be much more consistent and be able to show it in the games though having started the season well against two good teams."

Beijing opened the season with a 2-0 victory over newly promoted Yunnan Yukun before drawing with arch-rival Shanghai Shenhua in a tense national derby on March 1. 

While acknowledging that the Chinese league is an unknown competition in Europe in general, Amarelle said the caliber of the players is much higher than European or South American professionals might expect.

"From my perspective, this is a highly physical and demanding competition and environment. Foreign players are very strong and the local players need to be stronger to win duels against their opponents," Amarelle said. 

"Also, some foreign coaches are helping to elevate the level with their international vision, experience and demands," said the 47-year-old. 

Beijing Guoan's head coach Quique Setién (left) and assistant coach Ramiro Amarelle Photo: Courtesy of Ramiro Amarelle

 Sustainable project

In the 2025 season, 11 out of 16 Chinese top-flight clubs are under the stewardship of foreign coaches, with three coming from South Korea and two from Spain. Another Spanish coach, Raul Caneda, joined Zhejiang FC in January as the club hoped to elevate its youth development.

Caneda, who worked at the Real Madrid football academy, said that developing young players will be one of the club's goals for the new season, with efforts to provide them with as many playing opportunities as possible, according to Chao News, a media outlet under Zhejiang Daily.

In the third round against Wuhan Three Towns, 18-year-old Wang Yudong, who established himself in the Under-20 Asian Cup in February, scored his maiden goal in CSL, becoming the youngest Zhejiang player to score in the league since records began in 2012.

Having worked with Setién in the Spanish club Villareal, Amarelle also emphasized the importance of building rich and educational contexts for the young players. 

Establishing a sustainable project within clubs, enhancing the competence of football professionals across different fields, and improving the facilities are three aspects that China could work on to close the gap with European counterparts, according to the coach.

In the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers, China now languishes at the bottom of Group C with 6 points. China has to win the last two matches in June to maintain its hopes of reaching the next stage of qualifiers. 

China has demonstrated that it has the capacity for change in these three areas with its culture and history. 

"We must be ambitious and demanding if we want to achieve maximum performance and excellence. We must analyze the successful stories and learn from them," Amarelle said. 

On the right track

As the head coach of the Chinese national beach football team from 2017 to 2021, Amarelle said that his experience with Beijing Guoan and in China is an extraordinary challenge both on a professional and personal level.

"Having analyzed last season's games, the performance of the team and the individual players, we have started the season with the clear objective of improving some aspects," said the Spaniard, whose stupefying flicks and mind-blowing bicycle kicks won him the MVP awards at the 2003 and 2008 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. "The head coach considers them a priority if we want to reduce the gap with the two Shanghai teams, who were more than 20 points ahead of us in the standings." 

Shanghai Port edged out their city rival Shenhua by one point after the final game of the 2024 season, defending their championship with a total of 78 points. Guoan finished fourth with 56 points. 

Amarelle noted that the improvement of the defensive aspect has been established as a fundamental objective. 

"We have to improve the individual principles, the understanding and interpretation of situations in the same way, and the cohesion and coordination of actions at the group, line, and collective level," he told the Global Times. 

"Offensively we are only establishing the basis of a model of play based on ball possession and positional play. We are still not able to control the game as we would like and our spatial occupation is not what we want. We still have a long way to go but we are on the right track."