China seeks 'gold' from World Cup

Despite on-pitch disappointments and off-pitch corruption, China's soccer market remains a gold mine.

That was further proved on Monday after Guangzhou Evergrande, a second division outfit, announced their signing of China international Zheng Zhi, also known as China's ZZ, for a reported sum of about 5 million yuan ($736,000).

On Sept 1, 2009, Zheng became the second Chinese player, after Du Wei, to sign for Glasgow Celtic after penning a two-year contract. One more season and the Chinese captain would have been eligible to become a British citizen and many believed he would do that.