China wants to be football superpower on back of our clubs
country – “following the leader’s steps” can be a key determinant for your success.
A huge amount of investment from the Government will be ploughed into building some 20,000 football training centres and 70,000 pitches by 2020.
Xi’s proclamation has also spurred unprecedented investment from Chinese billionaires in support of government policy, into the Chinese Super League.
Indeed, the Chinese football industry is booming and with a large population and fast growing market, more and more investors are pouring money into the Chinese leagues.
It is not difficult to imagine that, when there are too many tycoons joining the gold club, it will no longer be easy to grab a share of the big cake. The late-comers will have to dig somewhere else for their lucky bit.
Anything that’s ‘old’ and has a heritage would catch the Chinese investors’ eyes. England is the home to the historic icons of world football and it has the most successful leagues and football culture that China wants to replicate. More importantly, English football clubs are probably most open to foreign ownerships, having over 28 clubs with substantial shareholdings overseas.
One thing is for sure, Chinese investors don’t just come to show their great enthusiasm for football or buy the most luxurious seat to watch their club’s games.
They want to see returns.
Moneywise, it wouldn’t be cheap to acquire the top-tier English clubs, but relatively small investment into teams such as Aston Villa and West Brom could possibly yield bigger returns.
The remarkable success of Leicester City suggests miracles do happen in the footballing world and that’s what Chinese investors are really hoping for.
The recent dramatic depreciation of the British pound makes the investments into English clubs even more attractive.
And considering Birmingham is the second largest and most populous city in England, with ambitious future development plans, taking over the three West Midlands clubs might be a very smart choice. Let alone the potential gains from running the clubs, the massive international media exposure and advertisement could bring unprecedented benefits for their own businesses to flourish globally. Domestically, doing the ‘politically right’ thing and gaining a large fan base will bestow their businesses with huge opportunities in China.
No matter what the real reasons are behind those Chinese investors, it will be good to see stronger and more popular English football clubs, with a massive number of supporters from the Far East.
And a closer tie with the fastest growing sports economy won’t be a bad thing. Dr Kurt Yang Liu is a lecturer at the University of Birmingham’s
Business School