Chinese football - it’s big business but will it be a winner?

President Xi Jinping wants to build a domestic sports industry worth US$850 billion (Bt29.5 trillion) by 2025 – with football the crown jewel – and for China to host the World Cup by 2030 and win it soon after. 

Tax breaks and other incentives are being offered to firms investing in the game.

Chinese love football and the national team’s poor performance has long been a source of discomfort, if not outright embarrassment. The men’s team ranks 78th in the world, just behind the tiny Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis (although China’s women’s team ranks higher at 13th, the rewards from the women’s game are much smaller). 

Encouraged by President Xi, an increasing number of international players, coaches, agents and bankers are getting involved in football in China. 

Spending on players in the Chinese Super League is starting to match some of the biggest overseas leagues, and since Beijing wants to have at least 20,000 football training centres and 70,000 pitches in place by 2020, clearly there are plenty of opportunities.

While the government leads the development of the sport at home, some of China’s biggest investors are pouring even more money into the sport in Europe. 

China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, has this month proposed launching a rival competition to the world’s most lucrative club event, the UEFA Champions League, while Chinese groups so far this year have spent an estimated $2 billion buying stakes in foreign clubs, mainly in Europe. 

Wang, the chairman of conglomerate Wanda Group, already owns stakes in Atletico Madrid, as well as Swiss sports-marketing firm, Infront Sports & Media AG.

Other Chinese own stakes in some of the best-known clubs in England, Italy and Spain, including Manchester City, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham City, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Espanyol and Granada. 

Rumours are circulating that Chinese interests are also eyeing Liverpool, which is hugely popular among Thais. 

There are several reasons for the splurge. Owning a European football team is undeniably glamorous, and buying one is a quick if expensive way to raise corporate profile in the west.

 It is also a state-sanctioned way for Chinese firms to move money offshore and provides a hedge against the falling yuan.

Will China’s highly-visible play away from home be matched by domestic progress?

Like football itself the outcome is never certain.