Continue reading Gov’t meddling in Chinese soccer, Pt 28: tattoo ban
Continue reading The future direction of China’s sports policy
Continue reading CSL TV rights deal resolved, 3×3 takes hold and the NBA’s New Year plans in China
It clearly takes a lot to tempt Italian coaching legend Marcello Lippi out of retirement for one last job, but fortunately for him there are some very deep pockets in China.
While Lippi will be officially announced as the new coach of China’s national soccer team on Friday, reports have revealed that he and his team – of whom former Everton star Li Tie will be a part – will collect 20 million euros annually over an initial two-year term.
Given China’s precarious state in the final round of AFC qualifying – bottom of Group A after four games – it’s less like a final throw of the dice than a refusal to accept that the die has already been cast.
In the video below, China Sports Insider’s Mark Dreyer discusses the Lippi hiring on CCTV News, with Yan Qiang, Tian Wei and Simon Pusey: Continue reading Lippi cashes in on China’s Mission Impossible
After a breathless few weeks during which the entire sporting world has been talking about Chinese football (with yours truly quoted by AFP three times, FT twice, El Pais, Hicimos, Vice Sports and interviewed by CCTV, BBC and Al Jazeera among others), let’s take a look at a few stories that could be cropping up over the next 12 months…
Continue reading 10 sporting questions for the Year of the Monkey
CCTV, IMG and Infront – all huge names in the sports industry – were among the suitors to buy the rights to produce and broadcast the Chinese Super League. But these three, and others, were obliterated by the bid submitted by the comparatively little known Tiao Dongli, or CSM, worth a staggering 8 billion RMB over five years.
Continue reading Astonomical CSL broadcast deal stuns China’s sports industry
This is a studio discussion I did alongside the always excellent Rowan Simons, who – literally – wrote the book on this, on CCTV last week after the new soccer reforms in China were announced.
For previous episodes of China Sports Insider, please click below:
First it was David Beckham, now it’s the entire English Premier League. After Becks made three visits to China this year to make money as a special ambassador for the Chinese Super League, a deal has been signed between the English Premier League and the Chinese Super League (CSL), to coincide with UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s current trip to China.
Continue reading Premier League’s China deal raises more questions than answers
