La Liga announced a new strategic partnership with the Chinese Football League (CFL) to collaborate on new opportunities for grassroots football development in the country.
La Liga and CFL have been partners for the past several years, agreeing a multi-year broadcast rights deal in September 2024 for China Media Group (CMG) for the broadcaster to become the official national broadcaster of La Liga.
However, the most recent deal – announced on May 28 – focuses on the two organisations working in tandem for the development of football within China. Until 2029, La Liga and CFL will collaborate on exchanging knowledge and data in different sporting and business areas.
La Liga will offer training programmes to Chinese football clubs in a multitude of different cities to grow the grassroots level. This will see youth football tournaments set up, as well as training and education sessions.
“In this collaboration, we not only look forward to enhancing our exchanges with La Liga in areas such as league operations, commercial development, and fan culture cultivation, but also aim to jointly explore new models for the development of professional football in China,” said Li Kemin, President of the CFL.
Despite being the second-most populated country in the world, with 1.41 billion people, football within China is not considered one of the leading sports in the country.
In a bid to increase interest in football, Chinese Super League clubs spent significantly attracting high-profile players to the league in the 2010s with players such as Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Oscar arriving in China.
While not for its football growth and development, China’s Wu Lei spent three years (2019-2022) at La Liga club RCD Espanyol, a move that mirrored the club’s owner and China native Chen Yansheng’s ambition to grow in the market.
Speaking to the Behind The Badge podcast last year, RCD Espanyol Head of Sponsorship Sergi Martinez Fernandez, revealed some eye-catching statistics of the impact of Wu Lei’s time at the Catalonia club.
“The first week that (Wu Lei) arrived, we grew more than one million followers online on Chinese social networks, so it was quite crazy. We did not have content for that market, so we had to change our strategy completely and localising content only for the (Chinese) market.
“For his first game with the team, we had 40 million spectators in China. For context, one of the top matches in La Liga last season (2022/23) had one million viewers. This shows that the return on investment just because you have a Chinese player is incredible.”
Business matters off the pitch
While the CFL will be hoping to produce more talent like Wu Lei to send to Spain, the organisation will also work with La Liga to develop business and analytical communications for the next four years.
A La Liga consortium of President Javier Tebas, General Corporate Manager Javier Gomez, and Managing Director of La Liga Greater China, Sergi Torrents, attended a Senior Seminar for the Sustainable Development of Professional Football Clubs in China.
This specialised training course organised by CFL aimed to promote sustainable and professional development and explore new ways for the development of Chinese professional football competitions and clubs.
Being one of Europe’s top five leagues, La Liga will be able to offer its expertise to the CFL when it pertains to marketing, sponsorship and other commercial avenues in order to grow Chinese football financially and attract more eyes on the sport.
“The work with the Chinese authorities in recent years has been particularly fruitful and this agreement formalises the work and commitment of both entities to further the sustainable development of Chinese professional football,” said Tebas.
“The country’s football potential is enormous, and we believe that LALIGA’s experience can provide valuable knowledge exchange that clubs in both countries will be able to take advantage of to strengthen their growth.”
Ironing out issues
While the backing of La Liga will help the CFL promote football within China, the country has undergone hardships that it is still currently battling.
Firstly, China has not competed at a FIFA World Cup Finals since 2002, failing to qualify for the last five editions of the competition. The national team is also on the verge of missing out on next year’s World Cup too.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) also took action against 43 individuals in September 2024 over match-fixing and betting related corruption, after a two-year investigation led to lifetime bans for the 43 individuals.
These setbacks would not have been envisaged by President Xi Jinping, as the avid football fan was determined to see China first qualify for a World Cup, host a World Cup, and finally, win the World Cup.
However, all three of Jinping’s wishes when he took over as President in 2012 have yet to come to fruition and with the Chinese Super League de-escalating its transfer investment of foreign players of the 2010s in the past several years, partnerships with La Liga suggest China is opting for a different approach to help China become a football powerhouse.
