This is the third story we have posted in three days about China and football. What China wants, China tends to get. Turning coral reefs in the South China Sea into military bases, and in particular infringing the sovereignty of the Phillipines, was recently condemned by the International Court in The Hague, but it is unlikely to change China’s behaviour.
This is the third story we have posted in three days about China and football. What China wants, China tends to get. Turning coral reefs in the South China Sea into military bases, and in particular infringing the sovereignty of the Phillipines, was recently condemned by the International Court in The Hague, but it is unlikely to change China’s behaviour.
Indeed, China has made a vigorous defence of its position, including an incomprehensible advert by one of its friends in the press. China is likely to press forward to consolidate its military position in the South China Sea, which is an important trading route. The risks of a military clash are likely to increase.
The relevance of this is to football is that, although China is a type of market economy (one where there is still a big state sector and a lot of cronyism), it remains a country in which politics is dominated by the Communist Party. In practice, that often means a lot of deal making at local level. China is a large and disparate country with substantial ethnic minorities Indeed, I once visied a theme park dedicated to these minorities near Kunming.
While I was in Kunming (this was many years ago), I was taken by my hosts, who knew of my interest in football, to see a training facility sometimes used by the national team. I wasn’t impressed.
However, if the central leadership decides on a ‘grand projet’, it is likely to be followed through, if only by rich individuals seeking to remain on good terms with the leadership. So it is with the President’s project to make China a soccer nation, not least by prioritising the game for school children and spending extensively on youth development. Recalling the Little Britain line ‘write the theme tune, sing the theme tune’, China wants to stage the World Cup and win the World Cup.
Apart from domestic developments, which include boosting the national league with imported players, Chian’s involvement in football is a two way traffic. We have reported on increasing Chinese investment in football in England, Italy and Spain. We can expect to see this accelerating.
Chinese companies spent more than $100bn on overseas deals of various kinds in the first quarter of this year. That was more than they spent in all of 2014, itself a record year.
The other side of the coin is Premier League interest in the Chinese market with its growing middle class. Admittedly, the Chinese economy is not growing as fast as it was and some big housing developments remain empty. However, there is still plenty of potential to win over new followers and sell merchandise.
Indeed, China has followed the Premier League closely for some time. Way back when Charlton were playing in the Premier League, I was in China and switched on the television. What I saw was a very interesting portrayal of how the then manager, Alan Curbishley, worked with his assistant, Keith Peacock.
The pre-season tour is still an important showcase for the Premier League. Manchester United have arrived in Shanghai this week, having last been there four years ago. With their recent (by their standards) poor placings in the table, the club needs to gauge whether they are still as popular in the Far East.
When they arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, they will have been greeted by giant posters of Barcelona and Lionel Messi. Manchester City are planning to announce a partnership with a Chinese club in the coming months, following a £265m investment by a Chinese consortium. The competition between Premier League clubs in China is getting stronger and those that have Chinese investors who can smooth their path may enjoy a head start. Connections in China are everything.