Overseas Purchases,Domestic Benefits

Recent investment in European football clubs by Chinese companies has become a hot topic internationally. For instance， home appliance retailer Suning Holdings Group purchased nearly 70 percent of the shares of the Italian football club Inter Milan for around 270 million euros （$303 million）， China CEFC Energy Co. Ltd. acquired 60 percent of the shares of SK Slavia Praha， in the city of Prague， and a Chinese consortium has made an offer to acquire AC Milan， another Italian club.

Companies from China investing in other countries finance and energy industries often encounter political hurdles. Investment in European football clubs， however， has been warmly welcomed on the continent.

Chinese football fans wish their nation to become a soccer power. The comparative weakness of Chinese football， though， has dashed many of their dreams. China has qualified only once for the FIFA World Cup， in 2002. At that tournament， the Chinese team played three matches in South Korea before returning home shattered without having scored a single goal. Worse still， the Chinese football league had been plagued with scandals involving match fixing， gambling and corruption. Some officials of the Chinese Football Association were sacked and sentenced to prison in 2012.

Fans who still cherish hopes of boosting football development in China， therefore， strongly support investments in foreign football clubs by Chinese companies. Nonetheless， whether such investments will provide good returns is far from certain， given that 90 percent of football clubs globally are in debt. Despite being a publicly traded company， Suning has yet to disclose possible returns from its purchase.

Even so， the preference of capital from China for European football clubs is unlikely to change due to the potential long-term gains such purchases may bring. Moreover， the investment is happening under favorable national policies for sports in general and football in particular. The State Council， Chinas cabinet， issued in March last year the governments Overall Plan for Football Reform and Development.

The Chinese Governments emphasis on promoting the sport has prompted a lot of companies to invest overseas in order to capitalize on the favorable policy environment at home. The sports industry in China is growing from individual sports events to a fully fledged and market-oriented industrial chain encompassing sports events， performances， media and products. Football could take the lead in the transition.

Companies in China can learn from European football clubs through their investment and eventually participate in and benefit from Chinas football development.