Chinese club offers $1.5m cash per win

SHANGHAI: A struggling Chinese football club will dish out more than $1.5 million in cash per game to inspire its demoralised players to victory — but they’ll be docked money if they lose.

The carrot-and-stick approach is being applied at Guizhou Hengfeng, who are bottom of the Chinese Super League (CSL) after losing eight of their first nine games, including five on the bounce.

Club boss Wen Wei treated the team and staff to a lavish dinner on Tuesday, two days after they were thrashed 5-1 at Tianjin Teda, and proposed an eye-watering victory bonus of 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) for each of the next two games in a desperate effort to stop the rot, local media said.

In the event of a long-awaited win, the cash will be waiting in the dressing room after the games, the Guizhou Metropolitan Daily cited Wen as saying. The team will earn two million yuan for a draw, but be fined a collective one million if they lose, or about 33,000 yuan apiece.

Guizhou’s 30 players as well as staff at the dinner accepted Wen’s proposal, the newspaper said, but they face a tough test at home to CSL leaders Shanghai SIPG on Saturday followed by a trip to fellow strugglers Dalian Yifang the following weekend.