NEW CHINESE
“I grew up in America and graduated from Columbia University, studying business and humanities,” Liao began telling her story about herself. - My grandfather was a famous general during the Sino-Japanese War. Therefore, after studying in the States, the goal was to benefit China.
- What is the new generation of Chinese?
Typically, Chinese students do very well in the US and UK. The Chinese approach is to work hard in pursuit of improvement and success. Now the Chinese have begun to think more globally, work better in teams, while maintaining the traditions of diligent students.
- How has business changed in your country recently?
We have become closer to the world. Large companies have learned a lot from the West and are developing both intensively and extensively, using acquisitions, mergers and investments. Therefore, my focus in the field of effective foreign investments has become very popular.
- Chinese companies are increasingly present in world markets.
Unfortunately, in Europe and North America, Chinese investors are often deceived because they do not know the specifics of local marketing. Western companies know almost nothing about our country. Because I am familiar with both "worlds", I help with the location of investments in the West and believe that I am making a positive contribution to the development of our business and country.
- How did the Chinese become interested in sports?
Over time, our investors began to increasingly invest in the entertainment industry, as the population began to pay attention to improving living standards and good entertainment content - films, TV series and, of course, sports broadcasts. All this is becoming even more in demand in China. I am well aware of the needs of the Chinese market and the preconditions for investment in this area.
September 5. Beijing. "Kunlun" - "Admiral" - 6:3. Rudy Ying (left) during the Chinese anthem. Photo photo.khl.ru
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KUNLUN
- How did you end up in hockey?
I was appointed president "Kunlun Red Star" so that the club’s performance in one of the world’s strongest leagues will contribute to the successful development of hockey in China. The club is playing vital role in Chinese-Russian relations. This project, like the vast majority of international projects in China, is aimed at successful performance at the 2022 Olympics. Our winter sport is just beginning to develop. At this stage we don't have enough professional athletes and staff. For the Chinese market and audience, this is a completely unknown area. With high-level government support from the two countries, we aimed our project at making a significant breakthrough in winter sports in China, as well as attracting and informing a mass audience.
- How does hockey help in the development of international relations?
KHL matches take place in eight countries, including China. Sport has become a tool of sports communication between them, completely new and interesting for us. Our country has never played in an international league of this level before. Performance in Continental League will help to establish connections through culture and sports, our athletes to improve, as well as the entire club and the hockey industry in the country to develop in order to reach the world level by 2022.
- How is this development planned?
The Continental League is played by high-level professionals, and we have gathered the best Chinese players to play in it. In addition, together with the Chinese Sports Administration (analogous to the Ministry of Sports. - Note auto.) and the hockey federation, we organized a viewing of players from the national teams under 20 and under 18 years old. Our efforts are aimed at raising the general level of hockey players in the country and training personnel for the main Chinese national team, so that talented young people can prove themselves at the upcoming Winter Olympics.
- What short-term goals does the club face?
We hope the team makes it to the playoffs. The whole team works hard together to achieve more. I think it is useful to develop sports team towards self-sufficiency. This does not contradict the main line of the country's successful preparation for the Winter Olympics. Sports marketing in China is not developing along the traditional American path. Since the government controls most of the sports industry, you have to be careful.
- How can you make money from the club in these conditions?
The hockey club is part of a holding company of several companies in various areas, including sports marketing and others. And we plan to develop other areas to make the project successful. Perhaps the club itself cannot pay for itself yet. The main thing is to attract investment in sports marketing. We hope that with the help of our and the Russian government, we will not be just a team about which they say: “They are rich and can afford to spend a lot of money.” We are ready to invest carefully to make the club the main symbol of our entertainment industry. The ultimate dream of our hockey players is a career in the KHL. We are ready to use other areas of business for the comprehensive development of the club in order to fully utilize the opportunities of sports marketing.
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ATTENDANCE
- How do you plan to cope with low attendance at home matches in Shanghai?
Essentially, we create marketing and create new audiences. Our team is based in Beijing, but as a Chinese team in the KHL, we have to play many home games in Shanghai. Growing in two different markets is even more difficult. I hope in Russian media will be able to tell how difficult it is to attract the attention of a completely new audience, because in China people are not accustomed to going to sporting event V free time or with your family. In addition, our sport seriously lags behind football and basketball in popularity.
- In what ways do you attract the audience?
We mobilized work on local television and most sports electronic platforms to tell people about hockey. Famous hockey personalities can help with brand development by telling why they chose this sport and what the KHL is. Our target audience is university students, sports fans, especially football and basketball fans in Beijing and Shanghai, foreigners and tourists. They are used to watching sports, and we will accustom them to hockey. Even though we've done great job, it does not compare with the progress in other countries that are more developed in terms of hockey - Russia and others where hockey is national species sports
- What instruments attract young people?
An important part of our project is teaching children hockey with kindergarten and up to 18 years of age. Kunlun's performance in the KHL will increase its popularity among the young population. This may take some time, as even the National Hockey League only came to China three years ago.
- How can the KHL overtake in Asia?
The advantage of the KHL is that a Chinese team plays in the league, as well as the proximity of the region. Either way, with the current government support and hopefully media coverage, we are poised to gain momentum. You have to understand that the team was created in a few months, and it is performing well, but we are ready to continue to work hard and develop, solving many problems every day. I hope we can make hockey popular in China.
- How can the KHL develop in China?
In the future, our group of companies plans to create several KHL teams from China. This will allow more Chinese hockey players to perform at the highest level and improve. We will begin these projects as soon as we get the current one up and running.
Head coach of Kunlun Vladimir YURZINOV. Photo photo.khl.ru
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THE SECRET OF SUCCESS
- What is behind the successful start of the regular season for Kunlun?
I think we chose the right head coach and general manager. - very experienced specialist and professionally uses best qualities players, and also competently distributes foreign and Chinese hockey players in the team. We have assembled an international team of eight different countries, including Russia, they were joined by seven Chinese. Hockey players quickly found a common language of hockey, despite their differences. I think we're done good job, and we can only thank our team for a successful start, but there is always room to grow.
- How do Chinese hockey players feel in the KHL club?
Our hockey players are fully aware and grateful for the opportunity to play in the KHL, so they work painstakingly under the guidance of a coach. The son of our celebrity returned from the North American club to play for our team. IN "Kunlun" The Chinese are also motivated by patriotism. That is why it is necessary to tell legionnaires who have made a huge contribution to success about our country.
- What do you know about Russia?
Little. I really want to learn more about it, and our project is a great opportunity for this. For me, Russia is a mysterious country with a rich history and culture. In this, China is similar to it. We do not want the world to judge us only on money or the political situation, forgetting about other areas. Cooperation between two countries with a rich past and economic power can make them stronger, and also allow our compatriots to get to know each other better. Hockey is a great opportunity for the Chinese to get to know the Russians.
- Did you know that you became popular in the Russian hockey community thanks to your page on a social network?
I didn't know about this before. After spending some time in the USA, the habit of maintaining a Facebook page remained. It’s great that the fans liked it, and now I will update it more often to tell more about the club and Chinese culture. I will be only glad of this.
We are talking not only about figure skating and short track speed skating - disciplines in which Chinese athletes traditionally show good results, but also about sports that are less common in China, such as hockey.
According to the strategy developed by the Chief public administration Department of Physical Education and Sports of the People's Republic of China, the main idea of holding the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022 is to popularize previously unpopular winter species sports The task of disseminating such disciplines as alpine skiing, bobsleigh and ski jumping, will largely be carried out by the Olympic city of Zhangjiakou, located 200 km from the capital; it is already ready to host snow tracks. But with team sports, especially hockey, the situation is much more complicated.
The 2022 Olympics will feature 12 hockey teams (8 of which will take places in the IIHF rankings), as well as the winners of three qualifying groups and the host country, that is, China. The title of "capital" of the Winter Olympic Games implies mandatory participation in the tournament of the Chinese national hockey team, which at the moment occupies only 38th place in the global IIHF ranking. The figure is by no means high, so in order to increase the competitiveness of the hockey team by 2022, the Chinese authorities have seriously taken up the creation of a strong team.
Today's successes international competitions It’s too early for Chinese hockey players to boast. In Asian hockey league The only team from China is the China Dragon, which has collected all the anti-records in the AIHL. The team was formed in 2007, the Chinese Hockey Association assembled the “best of the best” from the two strongest teams: “Hosa” (Harbin) and “Changchun-fuao” (Qiqihar). As a result of negotiations between the Chinese Hockey Association and the San Jose Sharks (teams from the NHL), it was decided to strengthen the Chinese national team with five players and three coaches from the NHL, the team was called the China Sharks. However, all efforts went to waste: despite the fact that the team slightly improved its level, in terms of the difference in goals scored/missed, it remained “at the bottom” standings, surpassing only the Japanese club Nikko Icebugs. In 2009, China Sharks lost financial support from the West, and the team was renamed China Dragon. Last season, the Chinese club managed to win only 7 victories in 48 matches.
An important step in the development of national hockey was the entry of the Chinese club into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)
An important step in the development of national hockey was the entry of the Chinese club into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The decision to create a Chinese team in one of the strongest hockey leagues was discussed at the level of top officials, and in October last year the KHL working group visited the “hockey” cities of the Middle Kingdom. During the visit, the Russian delegation visited Shanghai, Harbin and Beijing, where they got acquainted with the local hockey infrastructure and attended youth competitions. The purpose of the visit was to assess further prospects for cooperation between the League and Chinese clubs. A little later it became known about the signing by the President of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Continental Hockey League Gennady Timchenko and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chinese hockey club"Red Star-Kunlun" Yang Yun protocol on China's performance in the KHL. According to the document, to participate in the series of games next KHL season, the Red Star-Kunlun club is obliged to provide financial guarantees of the minimum amount of funding until the end of April 2016, as well as fulfill all the conditions for participation in the League, comply with the rules and regulations provided for by the KHL Regulations. There is no doubt about the financial guarantees of the Chinese club - the taxation system in China is quite loyal to sports, which is well proven by the activity of the Chinese football clubs, who spent over 203 million euros in the winter transfer window and overtook the most prestigious English Premier League. Thus, according to forecasts, the expected budget of Red Star-Kunlun will be comparable to the budgets of the richest KHL teams, such as SKA, Ak Bars and the capital CSKA. The Chinese club will be based in Beijing, home arena should become sports complex"Mastercard Center", built back to Summer Olympics 2008 and designed for 18 thousand fans.
Chinese fans hope that the new Chinese club in the KHL will be able to collect good team. Chairman of the KHL Board of Directors Gennady Timchenko said that the KHL newcomer - the Beijing Red Star-Kunlun - will be provided with special conditions for recruiting hockey players. And first of all, we will talk about athletes from North America and possibly players from Russia. However, hockey fans believe that the Chinese club will choose the North American vector of development, the reason for this is the offer of a working contract to Canadian hockey coach Mike Keenan, who won many trophies during his career, including the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup. If the Chinese club manages to put such a experienced trainer, this will significantly increase the chances of the club performing at the very high level. However, according to the regulations, in addition to foreign stars, athletes with Chinese passports must also play in the club.
Given the low level of play in regional hockey clubs, the problem of finding professionals is quite acute. But it can also be solved. Every year, interest in getting an education abroad is growing in China; many young junior hockey players go to study in Canada and the USA, and after graduation they stay to play in local clubs. An example is 19-year-old Andong Song, who moved from China to Canada at the age of 10, played for local clubs for a long time, and was later noticed by the New York Islanders hockey club. To date, Song is considered the first ethnic Chinese in the NHL. It is possible that Red Star-Kunlun will be able to bring back young players or naturalize players with Chinese roots.
Interesting: By the way, prices for classes and equipment in China are not much different from Russian ones: average price uniforms - about 65 dollars, the price of one lesson in a section - 30 dollars, in Russia the cost of equipment is slightly lower - around 55 dollars, but classes are more expensive - 30-35 dollars
The entry of Chinese clubs into the KHL is beneficial both to the League itself and to the PRC. The performance of the national team in the KHL contributes to the popularity of hockey in the country, and will also help in creating a competitive national team that can perform well at the home Olympics. In turn, the KHL will receive a huge market. By the way, interest in hockey in China has been constantly growing in recent years, as evidenced by television ratings data during the hockey finals at the Olympic Games in Sochi: over 120 million Chinese watched the Canada-Sweden match, while at home they were rooting for Canada only 15 million TV viewers. It’s hard to imagine how many TV viewers will be glued to the screens if sooner or later the Chinese team makes it to the finals.
Matches involving the Chinese team in the KHL will be of no less interest. So, about 800 thousand Chinese watch NHL games, and this is despite the morning broadcast. It is worth noting that the NHL has long been trying to “strengthen itself” in China, in addition to creating sports schools and camps, NHL clubs organize tourist trips to matches in the United States. In addition, several clubs are planning to send their players to participate in the local league. Perhaps such competition will benefit the KHL. The Youth Hockey Development Program can also contribute to this. The Ministry of Sports of China and Russia, the FHR and the KHL are in constant dialogue. It is planned to create youth team, which may play in the MHL (Youth Hockey League). And in the youth team, preference will be given to local players rather than to foreign players.
As for junior hockey in China itself, only three teams competed at the 2014-2015 U18 national championship: Harbin, Qiqihar and Beijing. The northern teams (Harbin and Qiqihar) are significantly inferior in technique to the young Beijing hockey players. One of the key advantages of the Beijing team is the participation of 9 young hockey players who were trained in the USA and Canada, where the intensive training newcomers. Even if we compare the number of matches played per year, “over the hill” young people participate in more than 100 official matches, and the guys from Chinese clubs cannot earn such practice even in 5 years. Another interesting fact is that in the capital, children begin playing hockey at the age of 4-5, and children from the northern regions of China enroll in the hockey section at the age of 7-8, although it is believed that children from the northern provinces are stronger and taller. As for the number of competitions at the city level, Beijing is the leader here too. Thus, about 730 matches take place in the capital during the annual city junior training camp, in which 1,745 young athletes take part.
Perhaps the more active development of hockey in Beijing is influenced not only by image" Olympic capital", but also other factors. Firstly, the abundance of sports infrastructure, soon especially for the popularization of hockey and figure skating construction of 16 is planned in Beijing ice arenas and about 50 outdoor skating rinks, for a total of 64 outdoor and 48 indoor skating rinks in China. For comparison: in Russia at the beginning of 2016 there were 2,553 outdoor and 450 indoor skating rinks. Secondly, the capital is the leader in the number of middle class, and these are people who can afford to buy their children expensive hockey equipment and pay for classes.
Today the Youth Hockey League has 708 players. Of course, the numbers are not that impressive, but everyone knows what Chinese athletes are capable of, especially with the support of the country's top leader: Chinese President Xi Jinping recently admitted that hockey is his favorite winter sport.
We've been going for a very long time. , . Where are the origins of Chinese hockey and how does this sport live today in the Middle Kingdom?
How did it all start?
In 1963, the Chinese Ice Hockey Federation joined the IIHF. However, the origins of this sport in China date back to the 1910s, when hockey began to be introduced to China. In 1953 it appeared national league, uniting amateur teams, then it included 8 teams, and later their number ranged from 6 to 12.
Regarding the founding of the national association, the dates vary: different sources mention 1957, 1951 and 1953. It arose as a division of the winter sports association.
In 1983, the hockey association, headquartered in Beijing, received independent status. The Chinese Hockey Association has five branches: the national committee, the standing committee, the coaches committee, the referee committee and the research committee.
Who plays hockey and where?
According to reports, today more than 20,000 people play hockey in China, of which more than 1,200 are registered as professional hockey players. There are about 100 skating rinks in the country, 48 of which are indoors. In addition, there are 98 registered hockey referees in China.
National team
The Chinese team is ranked 38th among men's national teams. Your very big victory the Chinese won in 1999, when they beat Kuwait 35:0, and biggest defeat was the game with Latvia in 1994, when the team from the Baltic states turned out to be stronger with a score of 22:0. There were years when China rose to the first division of the world championship, but it was not possible to stay there for more than two seasons.
Chinese clubs
The China Dragon club is the only professional one in the country and plays outside the Chinese championship - in the Asian Hockey League. This club is based in Shanghai and has never achieved any success in the AHL (only once did the “dragons” manage to take not the last place, but the penultimate one – in the 2008/09 season). It is currently headed by Jeff Hutchins, former hockey player Canadian-British origin, who also played for the British national team. There are also players from North America in the club. The arena in Shanghai, by the way, seats 8,000 spectators.
That's what he said Wade Flaherty, ex-Vancouver goalkeeper, about his performances in the Chinese league: “In China, no one really knows about the word “role.” Hockey players run chaotically around the court. The players have positions, but they have little idea what they are.
When I came to China, it seemed like a good opportunity to be part of something new, to help them build a league from scratch. It's bad that the season there lasts from September to January. Even an 8-year-old child in Canada spends more time on the ice than Chinese hockey players. This needs to change,” Flaherty said in an interview with The Vancouver Sun. These words were spoken in 2009. Perhaps very soon we will have the opportunity to see with our own eyes positive changes in Chinese hockey that have occurred over the past years.
Why China?
Winter Games will be held in Beijing in 2022 Olympic Games. Naturally, the Chinese side is interested in the development of winter sports, which in this country have hitherto been in the background or even third. Therefore, the presence of a club can be an impetus for the development of hockey in the country, including from the point of view of increasing spectator interest.
“There is no direct connection between the entry of the Chinese club into the 2022 Olympics. China is accustomed to planning all activities over a long period of time. To a certain extent, we are in a hurry, so here we need to somehow harmonize the speed of decision-making. In any case, China will develop hockey. I know that the International Hockey Federation is actively working in this direction. The Olympic Games will be a catalyst. You place the object in a favorable environment, and everything happens faster there,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko about the motives for the club from China to join.
From China. Due to increased interest in the People's Republic of China this species sports, it was decided to create a professional hockey club to participate in the ultra-popular Continental Hockey League, in which China had not previously participated.
History of creation
A professional Chinese team performs in Asian Games and has been their leader since 1986. This year, the team from the Celestial Empire won the victory for the first time and won the cup. In general, the team is stable and rarely falls below third place. However, he was not represented in any club. The main difference between the Kunlun Red Star squad and the Chinese national team is the absence of players from China in the original main squad.
On June 24, 2016, the KHL board of directors decided to participate in the 2016-17 season. Kunlun Red Star team. The document was signed with the participation of top officials from Russia and China, who expressed hope for the development of this wonderful sport in China.
The very next day, the club’s management announced the beginning of the formation of the Kunlun Red Star team. Initially, the appointment of Vladimir Yurzinov as coach was announced.
Club name
The name "Kunlun Red Star" can be divided into two parts. The last two words are translated from English as “red star”. And “Kunlun” is the name of a mountain system in China. Literally from Chinese it can be translated as “mountains of the moon”.
Compound
Final composition"Kunlun Red Star" season 2016-2017. was announced already on July 5, 2016. And already on February 18, 2017, after the efforts made, the team was able to make it to the playoffs.
In March 2017, the head coach was replaced; Mike Keenan was appointed as the new coach. Senior coach - Igor Kravchuk.
Current Kunlun Red Star roster 2017-18:
- Goalkeepers: Manus Hellberg (Sweden) and Alexander Skrynnik (Russia).
- Defenders: Rinat Ibraimov (Russia), Bladen Joe (Canada), Artur Kulda (Latvia), Brett Bellemore (Canada), Marek Dialoga (Slovakia), Nick Schaus (USA), Pavel Vorobey (Belarus), Nikita Khlystov (Russia), Joonos Jarvinen (Finland), Jesse Blecker (Canada), Roman Grabrenko (Belarus), Sergey Peretyagin (Russia).
- Forwards: (Belarus), Kirill Lebedev (Russia), (Ukraine), Mikhail Mokin (Russia), Lucas Lessio (Canada), Brandon DeFazio (Canada), Brandon Yip (Canada), Luke Lockhart (Canada), Taylor Beck (Canada) ), Greg Squires (USA).
- Centers: Corey Kane (USA), Brendan O'Donnell (Canada), Gilbert Brule (Canada), Kyle Chipchura (Canada), Jaakko Risanen (Finland).
On December 3, 2017, it became known about changes in the Kunlun Red Star lineup; again, these changes affected the team’s coaching staff. Mike Keenan has left his post and Bobby Carpenter has been appointed interim head coach. There is still controversy surrounding his departure. The main reason for the coach's departure is not known.
Otherwise, the composition of the Kunlun Red Star team remains stable, even if you do not pay attention to the frequent reshuffling of the main team coaching staff. Not only the board of directors of Kunlun Red Star is satisfied with the work of the center forwards, but everyone more fans of the new club.
Here's what they write: This Kunlun is exclusively a political project. We created the team a month before the start of the championship, when it had no arena, no roster, nothing. Of the Chinese who can hit the puck, there are a couple of people there, but also those with dual citizenship. Real Chinese play for a minute per match, if they play at all. Of. The team's website exists only in Russian and English languages, no Chinese. Do the Chinese even know about the club? The management is from Russia, the coaches too, the composition is European. But CHINESE club in the KHL, yeah.
Apparently this is just the beginning. But the Chinese also started buying football and EVERYTHING!
Now main sport for Chinese billionaires it's football. Over the past year, the Chinese have offered insane salaries to almost everyone famous football players peace.
Just in case, here are some of the most important Chinese transfer stories:
1. Alex Teixeira moved from Shakhtar Donetsk to Jiangsu Suning for 50 million euros. Ramirez from Chelsea followed there for 28 Eurolemons.
2. Carlos Tevez has become the highest paid player in the world, Shanghai Shenhua pays him about 40 million euros a year.
3. Diego Costa freaked out when he learned that the Chinese had offered him a salary of £30 million a year. He had a fight with Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte and missed training for three days.
4. Oscar became a Shanghai Tellays player, and Chelsea received 60 million euros for a player who did not make it into the first team.
5. Hulk left for the same Shanghai Tellays for 55.8 million euros, and Alex Witzel turned down Juventus for Tianjin Quanjian.
But the matter is not limited to buying football players; the Chinese are also buying clubs.
Italy
Football in Milan is now entirely owned by China. Last summer, Chinese retail giant Suning Holdings Group bought a 68.5% stake in Inter (including Massimo Moratti's entire stake). The company announced that it wants to make Inter stronger - and "even more international." In the summer, the Milanese bought players for 150 million euros, failed the start of the season, fired coach de Boer and are now issuing a 9-match winning streak- only three points separate them from the Champions League zone.
The deal to sell Milan is the Italian analogue of the Krestovsky construction project. Back in August, it was announced that the Chinese Sino Europe Sports Group would receive 99% of the club's shares. Since then, the completion date of the deal has been postponed twice (which brought Silvio Berlusconi an additional 200 million euros), and there was also information that the buyers had given false documents to the Italians. The new date for the sale of Milan is March 3, 2017.
England
The Chinese own the Premier League club West Bromwich Albion, which was bought out in September by a group of investors led by Guochang Lai (net worth about $2.8 billion). The second “Chinese” team in the Premier League could be Southampton. Lander Sports Development, a company involved in the construction of stadiums in China, wants his controlling stake. According to the latest information, the club's owners have rejected an offer of 180 million pounds and are asking for 270 million.
Chinese bosses are now in charge of three championship clubs at once. Aston Villa was bought for £76 million by Tony Xia, a businessman who studied at Harvard and Oxford. Arriving at Villa, Xia scolded the sheikhs from Man City in an interview, calling the tactic of pumping money into top transfers an unhealthy development model. In the summer, Aston Villa spent more than 60 million euros on transfers, but are only 13th in the championship. By the way, Xia was accused of faking his university achievements, and his company Recon Group was accused of fraud.
Wolverhampton were bought by investment company Fosun International last summer for £45 million. The Chinese have pledged to invest £30 million in the club over the next two years. There were also questions about this purchase: one of Fosun’s subsidiaries owns 20% of Jorge Mendes’s company Gestifute. That same summer, Mendes' client Ivan Cavaleiro moved to Wolverhampton from Monaco for £7 million, becoming the most expensive player in English history. In total, 14 players joined the team.
In the fall, the Chinese company Trillion Trophy Asia bought a controlling stake in Birmingham. The club's previous owner, Hong Kong businessman Carson Yen, is now in prison for money laundering.
Chinese China Media Capital Holdings owns 13% of the City Football Group, which manages Manchester City (as well as the MLS team New York).
Spain
The development company Wanda Group bought a 20% stake in Atlético last winter. Its owner is Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China (net worth: $33 billion). The transaction amount was about 45 million euros (it could have been more if not for the huge debts of Madrid). Jianlin does not plan to spend money on best players world, he is interested in new connections and the opportunity to bring Chinese football players to the Atlético academy. Jianlin has huge plans for sports in general: he bought the largest marketing agency Infront Sports & Media for $1.2 billion. Infront has contracts with 180 media rights holders in 25 sports and hundreds of sponsorship deals. He paid another 650 million for the organizer of a triathlon under the Ironman brand.
Wang Jianlin plans to create new tournaments (including a new Champions League) and says he sees huge opportunities for growth in the sports industry in China.
At about the same time, the controlling stake in Espanyol was bought by the toy car manufacturer Rastar Group (amount - about 13 million euros). The new owners promised to get Espanyol into the Champions League and teach the heavily indebted team how to make money.
The controlling stake in Granada belongs to Chinese businessman Jian Lizhang.
Rest of the world
Where did Lyon get the money for Memphis Depay? The Chinese IDG Capital Partners helped, buying a 20% stake in the club for about 100 million euros. Lyon spends money on transfers and debt service, IDG will have the opportunity to use the Lyon brand in Asia and seats on the board of directors. The Chinese help pay not only Depay, but also Balotelli and Dante. Since the summer, 80% of Nice have belonged to a Chinese-American investment group, the team is in the Champions League zone, ahead of PSG. The Chinese also own League 2 club Sochaux, which was bought from Peugeot, and a controlling stake in Auxerre, which is stuck in League 2.
The saddest story is that of the Dutch “Den Hag”. In the winter of 2015, Beijing businessman Wang Hui (his company recently organized the Italian Super Cup in Beijing) bought the club for about 6 million euros. The investor promised that he would take the club to Europe, but instead Den Hag almost ended up under external management due to the fact that Wang Hui missed the payment deadlines (but eventually paid).
The Chinese own 60% of Slavia Prague and the status of title sponsor of the Portuguese second league.
Finally, they got to Ukrainian football - FC "SUMY" from the second league came under the control of the investment company Smart-Mentors. The Chinese will manage the club until the end of the season, after which they will decide whether they will participate in financing the team or buy it outright.
Basketball
Don't be distracted by millions of Brazilian stars and English clubs - the most popular sport in China remains basketball. Kobe Bryant has many more fans in China than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
China is the main overseas market for the NBA. Teams regularly travel there on tour, and in October the league announced that NBA training camps would be coming to China. More importantly, league commissioner Adam Silver often says that some games need to be moved up for the sake of Chinese TV audiences. Now the games are too late, if you play at least one match a week early in the morning, then in China it will be in prime time.
No one has yet been able to repeat the success of Yao Ming; right now there is not a single Chinese basketball player in the NBA. But last summer the first minority shareholder appeared. Jian Lizhang, the owner of a controlling stake in Granada, also broke into basketball, buying 5% of Minnesota.
Hockey
Here it is clearly worth recalling Kunlun in the KHL, but in general the Chinese also have plans for the NHL. Back in early 2016, Chinese metal packaging manufacturers O.R.G. became a sponsor of the Boston Bruins team. Additionally, in June 2015, Andong Song became the first Chinese player selected in the NHL draft. True, he has not yet played a single match for the Islanders.
In general, the Chinese also have plans for the NFL and Major League Baseball, but it will be more difficult for them to penetrate the North American market: in Europe, many more owners dream of quickly getting rid of an unprofitable asset.
MMA
Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Dana White and other UFC stars could well become clients of the Chinese company that participated in the auction. A few weeks before the WME/IMG deal was announced, ESPN reported that Dalian Wanda Wang Jianlin was in the best negotiating position. China Media Capital also participated in the auction.
Important international tournaments
Beijing will host the 2022 Olympics. Alibaba, the company of one of China's richest men, Jack Ma, has signed a deal worth about $600 million to sponsor the next six Games.
It is reported that Alibaba also wants to become a sponsor of the World Cup. Which, by the way, has never taken place in China.
Why do they need SO MUCH EVERYTHING?
1. First of all, technologically advanced ones enter the international market Chinese companies, which expand geography. Sponsorship for them is primarily an image story.
2. Expensive purchases of foreign stars can be financially justified. Ratings for Chinese matches are growing, and the league's current TV contract (2016-2020) is worth $1.25 billion (although it is assessed as an overpayment). Organizing new tournaments can bring in a lot of money; the Chinese sports market is assessed as very promising.
3. Buying shares in foreign clubs - the opportunity to send young Chinese players to the best academies in Europe. China not only really wants to host the World Cup. He also hopes to win it someday.
Is everyone happy about this kind of spending in China?
Specifically, purchases of foreign football players - definitely not. At the end of last year, Chinese officials announced that something had to be done about the crazy spending on foreign players, otherwise it could hinder the growth of young Chinese football players (don’t forget, China wants to win the World Cup).
As a result, China invented its own limit, which now does not hinder the buying of stars, but primarily hits inexpensive Asian foreign players like Odil Akhmedov. However, in the future, Chinese officials promise to limit transfer amounts and set a salary cap.
Roman MUN