Build it and they will come, but China warned not to forget its football foundations by former England international

The general consensus from a host of former England internationals in Hong Kong this week was that China’s money-backed expansion of the game would eventually be good for football in the mainland, but crucially not at the expense of grassroots development.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James has experienced first hand another of the world’s heavily financially backed leagues, the Indian Super League (ISL), having helped Kerala Blasters to a runner-up finish as player-manager in the inaugural 2014 season.

Unlike the Chinese Super League, the ISL is not the country’s main professional league, but instead is run on a franchise basis with teams owned by prominent businessmen, movie stars and sportsmen.

But comparisons can be drawn between the leagues with owners often playing a real life game of fantasy football to sign players from across the globe with little care for the often mind-boggling and spiralling multi-million dollar salaries and fees.

Comparisons continue when you look at the population of each country who could potentially watch or attend games, with the ISL’s first season smashing TV and stadium records with 65,0000 fans watching the first ever game and 74.7 million tuning in at home.