There were a number of destinations that might have been expected for Didier Drogba after the two-time Golden Boot winner announced that he was leaving Chelsea following their Champions League victory.
Shanghai Shenhua wasn't among them.
Nonetheless, Drogba is headed to the Chinese Super League Club until the end of 2014 on a contract that will reportedly pay him £25 million over the next two years. Drogba is expected to arrive in Shanghai next month, in time to face old Premier League rival Manchester United in the Chevrolet China Cup on July 25. The Red Devils are facing Shanghai Shenhua as part of their 2012 preseason tour, which also includes stops in Norway and South Africa. If he plays in that fixture, it would be Drogba's first appearance against Man United since the 2010-11 Premier League campaign, as he did not appear for Chelsea in either game against Man U this past season. He last scored against Man United on April 12, 2011, in the second leg of a Champions League quarterfinal.
The greater significance of Drogba will come, however, when the Ivory Coast international plays the next two seasons in the Chinese Super League. It's not exactly an unprecedented move, and might be compared to David Beckham's move to Major League Soccer and the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 as a move to help grow the game in a country that doesn't have a strong history in world football (or before that, Pelé joining the New York Cosmos). Of course, given that China is 73rd in the most recent FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings (compared to 28th for the U.S.), China has even more room to grow in the sport than the U.S. The Chinese Super League has existed since 2004, and its predecessor, the National Football Jia-A League, existed for 10 years prior to that.
With former Argentina manager Sergio Batista managing a club that also includes former Spartak Moscow and Braga defender Moisés and Drogba's former Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka, Shanghai Shenhua is certainly poised to raise the profile of the Chinese Super League.
What effect it will have on football in China and the nation's place on the world stage is a question that will be answered in the months and years to come.
