They have the money because of the football culture though. It's not like massive money was there so the culture followed. We had the good native players (look at the nationality of the teams which made Liverpool famous around the world) and then the money followed and the foreign players - but the leagues were established as the best in the world by then.
South America also has a football culture, so why is Europe on top? The answer, of course, is that European countries (and therefore fans, and therefore clubs) have more money. In fact, the gap between Brazil (can't speak for Argentina) and Europe wasn't so great league-wise until the late 90s/early 200s. We had loads of good internationals that didn't go abroad or couldn't be bothered with more than one season in Europe. It wasn't the pinnacle of a player's career then, there was no 'make it in Europe' requirement. That changed still somewhat recently, and I think it was in no small part due to globalisation and the economic prowess European clubs had.
Of course European leagues were always going to be good and much better than what the Chinese league still is now. But the gap between Europe and South America is now gigantic, the number of Brazilians and Argentines going to Europe at a young age is obscene. We don't even get to form a lot of our players now, and it's not like they are going to the very top European clubs. European clubs and leagues (though mostly the PL, by far) did very well out of globalisation and marketing, to a point where they successfully sold the idea that real football is in Europe. Being good anywhere else is not enough and Europe is the real test where every half-decent player should go to. Before that we still had South Americans going to Europe, but it was in a far small numbers and usually to top clubs. Now European leagues are probably just as popular as the Brazilian league in Brazil.
they have money as they have for the most part organically grown the game, have the biggest clubs and have strong economies, well run clubs and the lifestyle in terms of lower crime rates are much better in Europe, South American clubs for the most part are run terribly so even if they suddenly got loads and loads of money they'd still be a mess
I suppose that is true to some cases, but it might be an oversimplification. Based on the profile of Brazilian players I'm uncertain as to how much they care about Europe's culture and lifestyle. They're absolutely loaded anyway, and the majority go back to Brazil as soon as they 'can'. Again, there'd always be players going to the ver top European clubs, but losing good players to mid-table Italian and Spanish teams hurts the national league tremendously.
I know the comparison isn't perfectly symmetric. Europe has had great teams, a big fanbase and good players since the beginnings of football, but especially since the 1990s money plays a huge part in where success and popularity goes. The more football becomes a business, the truer this is. There's little moral high ground to take regarding the Chinese league here I think. It's what the game is now, and you can easily say that just as European clubs have more money due to stronger economies, so do the Chinese teams.
