Football
Michael Church, Asia correspondent 7y

Oscar targeting a Chinese Super League title with Shanghai SIPG

Oscar has set his sights on delivering a maiden Chinese Super League title to Shanghai SIPG after joining the club from Chelsea for an AFC record fee last month.

The Brazilian, who signed for SIPG for £60 million from the Premier League leaders, has been in Qatar preparing for the upcoming CSL season as well as Shanghai's appearance in the Asian Champions League playoffs in early February.

But while Shanghai will be looking to build on their run to the quarterfinals of the continental competition last year, the 25-year-old says winning the domestic crown will be his primary goal.

"I haven't stayed there a long time yet, just two days in Shanghai, but the impressions were great, the buildings are amazing and it is a very nice city," he told the official website of Qatar's 2022 World Cup organising committee.

"My priority is to win the league this season."

Oscar is among the latest batch of a growing number of high profile foreign players to make the decision to move to the CSL and he believes the influx can help improve the game in the world's most populous nation.

"I am one of the pioneers, along with those players who went before me, and I'm coming to China to help the league and help more players get to know this league," he said.

"It is good for football that the game grows in new areas of the world. China has invested a lot of money in the league and every team now has good players. This will help raise the level of the league and football in the country."

Shanghai's season will kick off on Feb. 7 when they take on either Sukhothai of Thailand or Myanmar's Yadanarbon in the playoffs for a spot in the group stages of the Asian Champions League, while the new CSL season will commence on March 4.

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