‘We must learn from Europe, and train our own young players’ – training not transfers the way forward for China, says Alibaba chief
China, encouraged by its football fan President Xi Jinping, has splashed out to develop the sport in the country
“The biggest problem is that we have not established a youth training system, so Chinese athletes have not been able to improve at the same level as international athletes,” Alisports CEO Zhang Dazhong said.
“I believe that if we establish football in school sporting programmes and broadly promote the sport, this is the real way to promote football in China,” Zhang added.
Alibaba is China’s dominant player in online commerce. The company, often compared to US giants Amazon and eBay, has expanded outside its core e-commerce business into sectors ranging from sports to entertainment.
China is also forging partnerships with clubs and football associations across the globe to help drag up the level of Chinese youth players.
Dutch football giants Ajax on Monday announced a five-year partnership with Super League side Guangzhou R&F that will attempt to build the best youth academy in China.
Chinese authorities have in recent months tried to put the brakes on the import of talent from abroad by hiking taxes slapped on the purchase of foreign players.
Recent investment has also failed to help the Chinese national team, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia and is ranked 60th in the world by Fifa.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post