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Shanghai SIPG splashed out on Brazilian player Oscar, but this is not the best approach for Chinese football according the Alisports’ CEO. Photo: AFP

‘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

China must start developing its own players instead of splashing out on foreign talent if it wants to become a football superpower, according to the head of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s sports arm.

“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.

“We can only buy athletes from abroad to sustain our prosperity, but we think that this sort of prosperity cannot be continued. We must learn from Europe, and train our own young players. This is the basis of our development,” he added.
Alisports CEO Zhang Dazhong believes big spending on foreign players is not the answer. Photo: AFP
Alibaba owns almost 40 per cent of China’s most successful club, Guangzhou Evergrande, winners of the Chinese Super League for the previous seven seasons and Asian Champions League champions in 2013 and 2015.

“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, encouraged by its football fan President Xi Jinping, has splashed out to develop the sport in the country.
China are still languishing at No 60 in Fifa’s world rankings. Photo: AFP
Super League clubs have invested vast amounts in foreign stars such as Shanghai SIPG’s 60 million (HK$555.6 million)-Brazilian Oscar and the disappointing Carlos Tevez at Shanghai Shenhua, both reportedly on some of the highest wages in world football.

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

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Focus on training, not the transfers, Alisports chief says
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