 takes a selfie with President Xi Jinping (left) and Britain's PM David Cameron Credit: Sergio Aguero/Manchester City Fooball Club via AP 9 Argentine star Carlos Tevez was worth £650,000 a week, or a pound a second, in China Credit: AFP/Getty 9 The half-built Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium pictured last year Credit: Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty And the boom and bust could be a cautionary tale for Saudi Arabia - whose own football ambitions can draw some direct lines to China. Uefa chiefs have urged the kingdom not to make "similar mistakes" which blighted the rise of the sport in the Communist nation. Football fans around the world are being left gobsmacked as Saudi scoops players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema on huge contracts worth hundreds of millions. But it may feel like supporters have heard this all before, with China once having Saudi's place as the next budding football destination. China 's football dream kicked off with an ambitious plan by President Xi Jinping - who had huge dreams to become a football superpower by 2050. At the turn of the 21st century, he deemed football as one of the best tools to propel the country to the top table of the economic world. He wanted China to play in a World Cup , host the tournament, rank within FIFA's top 20 teams - and even eventually become a World Cup Champion. By 2030, the despot wants China's national men's team to become one of the highest-ranked teams in Asia. Beijing also planned to build 50,000 specialist football schools in the next seven years - and get 50million){kind=link}
FROM a rising powerhouse to a crash-and-burn failure, China’s football boom imploded just as violently as it burst onto the scene.
Harsh Covid restrictions, a struggling economy and hasty planning turned the home of Carlos Tevez, Hulk, and Oscar into a cemetery of abandoned stadiums and collapsed clubs.
And the boom and bust could be a cautionary tale for Saudi Arabia – whose own football ambitions can draw some direct lines to China.
Uefa chiefs have urged the kingdom not to make “similar mistakes” which blighted the rise of the sport in the Communist nation.
Football fans around the world are being left gobsmacked as Saudi scoops players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema on huge contracts worth hundreds of millions.