June 23 – China is reportedly considering a change to its foreign player quota at Super League clubs. Chinese clubs hit the news with a number of big international signings in the winter.
June 13 – China’s football investment is becoming a global phenomenon with the Ledman Group joining the consortium of investors that has bought Australian A-League club Newcastle Jets from the Football Federation Australia (FFA) for $3.7 million.
By Paul Nicholson
June 6 – Serie A giants Inter Milan have completed the sale of a 69% stake in the club to Chinese retail giants Suning Holdings Group, one of the three largest Chinese non-state owned enterprises with close to $50 billion in annual sales.
June 2 – Chinese retailer Suning Commerce is reportedly close to buying a 60% stake in Inter Milan, the latest foray into European football by Chinese investors.
May 26 – Rumoured Chinese investment in Spanish club Granada CF looks to be nearing completion with reports that a figure of €37 million has been agreed.
May 19 – Leicester City, the rags to riches English Premier League champions who have rewritten the rules on the pitch, have moved swiftly to expand their international footprint and are reported to be focussing on China with a plan to train Chinese youth players at their academy.
By Paul Nicholson
May 11 – The Berlusconi family, owners of Italy’s AC Milan, have opened exclusive talks for the sale of a majority stake in the club to a group of Chinese investors.
May 9 – Manchester City, who have recently taken on board a $400 million investment from Chinese investors in their City Football Group ownership group, have added two new Chinese partners in advance of their July pre-season trip to the country where they will play Borussia Dortmund and local rivals Manchester United.
May 6 – China may be spending like crazy to lure a string of big-name overseas players to its domestic Super League and have put in place an eye-watering blueprint for grassroots development at national level but money doesn’t automatically buy you success.
By Paul Nicholson
April 28 – The cost of winning has caught up with Chinese Super League giant Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC who have revealed a staggering loss of RMB953 million ($147 million) in their year ended 2015 accounts.
April 22 – China’s increasingly broad-based ownership positions in sport saw trading company Wuhan Double Co announce it is to spend €39.5million buying a 100% share of Nice International Sports Limited, whose principle business is player agency.
By Mark Baber
April 13 – China, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea are bidding to host the 2023 Asian Cup, with Indonesia in the running despite being under a FIFA-imposed ban from international competition because of government interference in the running of the national soccer federation.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – China, which is already spending like crazy to lure a string of big-name overseas players to its domestic Super League, has announced plans to transform the country into a world football power by 2050.
April 8 – News from the Chinese football market is generally about big money acquisition of football assets outside the country, or the import of what look like very expensive international players. But there are signs that the domestic football marketing opportunity is not being lost with Super League clubs who are usually owned by one funding sponsor or business conglomerate.
April 5 – Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which last month announced it had become the first Chinese company to sign up as a top-tier World Cup partner, has further cemented its European football sponsorship with a title sponsorship deal for Atlético Madrid’s training ground.