Opinion | After a European adventure with Atletico Madrid, Wanda wanders back home to Dalian to take a tilt at the Chinese Super League with Yifang

Will Wang Jianlin swapping La Liga for his hometown side signal a sea change in China’s soccer investment?

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The Wanda Group is set for a return to the Chinese Super League after severing ties with La Liga side Atletico Madrid. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:23pm, 25 Feb 2018Updated: 2:26pm, 25 Feb 2018

Chinese investment in European football all started with Wang Jianlin’s Wanda Group so maybe it’s fitting that the end begins with them too.

The last week has seen China’s fifth richest man pull out of Atletico Madrid, selling his 17 per cent stake in the Spanish club to Quantum Pacific Group, owned by London-based Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.

Wanda had bought their shares in the then La Liga champions in January 2015, taking a 20 per cent stake in the club for an initial €45 million (US$56 million) – this was reduced to 17 per cent after a share reissue in late 2017.

Atletico Madrid moved into the Wanda Metropolitano stadium at the beginning of this season. Photo: EPA

While Wanda no longer own any part of the club, their relationship continues in the form of Atleti’s new stadium, the Wanda Metroplitano, which they moved into ahead of the current season.

It is a rather dramatic – if not wholly unexpected – volte-face, caused by scrutiny from back home on foreign investments by China’s biggest companies.

Wanda has come under particular fire for its laissez-faire spending as it expanded its interests overseas, specifically in the sports and entertainment sectors, which meant that they along with the likes of other monoliths HNA and Fosun International, they have felt the full gaze and gentle persuasion of Beijing.

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