China Football Market: Soccerex China event focuses on football development
Updated 21:40, 26-May-2019
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The second edition of Soccerex China has begun in the city of Haikou, on the island of Hainan. This event brings together leading football experts from around the world for two days of discussions on football development. One of the hottest topics this time is, investing in China's football future. CGTN's Jen Kwan has more.
By 2025, China targets substantial growth in its sports industry -- led by football -- to an amount in excess of $800 billion. However, one of the many problems of investing in the sport is that football clubs are not always run as professionally as big businesses. Through their club licensing system, the Asian Football Confederation provides guidance for both the development and benchmarking of football clubs. 
While this has improved the professionalization of the game across Asia, many clubs are still run at a loss. And China is trying other ways to better the governance of football clubs by sending players abroad to learn from successful clubs in prestigious leagues, like Wu Lei playing in Espanyol in La Liga, while international leagues are also looking to expand their market here.
SERGI TORRENTS MANAGING DIRECTOR, LA LIGA CHINA "We are working to create more channels to facilitate more Chinese players to play in the Spanish league."
It is clear that significant investment is still required if ambitious goals are to be met. But there are still questions to answer, such as where should investment focus on and what returns can be expected. Jen Kwan, CGTN.