Growing exchanges

It is not only countries that benefit from these stronger ties with China. At the players’ level, the growing Chinese football market also reveals interesting opportunities.

Indeed, while African players have traditionally looked to Europe to pursue their international careers, China now offers them attractive opportunities with sometimes even higher salaries.

One of the stars of ACN 2017, Cameroon national team Captain Stéphane Mbia, signed with the Hebei China Fortune Football Club in January 2016.

He is not the first to make the leap. In 2012, Shanghai Shenhua made headlines by signing football star Ivorian Didier Drogba, later Senegalese Demba Ba (2015) and Nigerian Obafemi Martins (2016). There were about 20 Africans playing in the Chinese Super League 2015-16 season.

The Chinese Football Association recently made changes to quotas on foreign players, and now a maximum of only three foreign players can be on the field for each club at the same time.

But this is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of African players for the tantalizing salaries and career development opportunities that China offers, Burkina Faso forward Bertrand Traore told BBC Sport. Comments to francoisdube@chinafrica.cn