Chinese OSCs, Shenzhen Blues + Sun Jihai + Shenzhen Peng City FC

[M14Exile]

Being a Chinese city fan and grew up in a family which literally every male member is in certain degree football crazy. I find it really amusing to hear you say Chinese is a nation lacking of football enthusiasm.
Football was and has been still the No1 sport in China with huge followings. PL is the most watched league here. If you have been in china before 2000, you will probably be amazed by the amount of people watching football. So what happened? After Chinese National Team failed to qualify for the word-cup again in 2010, huge scandal of matching fixings broke out which included majority of the referees, heads of FA, famous football players and managers. I remember Sun said in one of the interview that one of the reasons why he choose to go to City, was to get away from all of the "bad influence" in Chinese football. As a result of this, people started to turn their heads toward other sports.
Another reason is the demographic change, as more of the post-80s and 90s growing up, majority of these two generations are child of the "one child policy" enforced by the government. Many of the one child's parents forbid their children to get into sports they believe can be dangerous. Therefore, less people playing the sport and less professional and decent player came out of the system.
The football culture in generally is in decline in the past decades, so what you are seeing now probably is not a market that is in its infancy, but more of a jumped shark type of thing.
Still I will be over the moon, if City decides to buy a local team here.
BTW, any city fan wished to travel to Shenzhen China, feels free to drop me a line.

Wish I had seen this post before, I have just had 3 weeks in Shekou and I'm back there again now for another 2 days. Would have been great to meet up with a local Blue.

 

[SlimShadyRus]

We have a presence globally in North America (New York City FC ), Australasia (Melbourne Heart FC), Europe (Aarhus; Espanyol; Gil Vicente;Limerick ) and Africa (Right to Dream Academy; Mpumalanga Black Aces) but after a

Haven't known about partnerships with Limerick and Gil Vicente, that's cool. We also have Stremgodset and now a japanese team

 

[Oystercatcher28]

We have a presence globally in North America (New York City FC ), Australasia (Melbourne Heart FC), Europe (Aarhus; Espanyol; Gil Vicente;Limerick ) and Africa (Right to Dream Academy; Mpumalanga Black Aces) but after a

Haven't known about partnerships with Limerick and Gil Vicente, that's cool. We also have Stremgodset and now a japanese team

I think the partnerships for most teams are purely at youth development and coaching levels.

There is a strong vibe something big is about to happen in the Chinese Super League, something akin to the Indian league's new plan.

 

[rockyrock]

I think the partnerships for most teams are purely at youth development and coaching levels.

There is a strong vibe something big is about to happen in the Chinese Super League, something akin to the Indian league's new plan.

+1 super plan

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

Unfortunatly we play in blue. As I have found while travelling asia everyone is a plastic fucking red or liverpool or arsenal. Obviously since he PL come about have been continually he big names but also because they werw the lucky red colour

 

[S04]

Unfortunatly we play in blue. As I have found while travelling asia everyone is a plastic fucking red or liverpool or arsenal. Obviously since he PL come about have been continually he big names but also because they werw the lucky red colour

So why is blue the most used colour for Chinese teams..?

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

So why is blue the most used colour for Chinese teams..?

I didnt know they did

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/lucky-numbers-and-colors-in-chinese-culture.htm

 

[Rolee]

We could hire Richard Dunne to head it up. I believe his name just rolls off the tongue over there.

 

[cucumberman]

Would be nice to get a strong City presence in East Asia. There are decent support clubs in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia already.

I know the club and CITC have been active here and in the US, but does the club have any policies on helping out junior or grassroots teams in other developing countries? I think it would be a good marketing investment for a very tiny pinch of money to have one in every country. It would keep kids off the streets and create an interest in the club as well.

 

[Falastur]

Would be nice to get a strong City presence in East Asia. There are decent support clubs in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia already.

I know the club and CITC have been active here and in the US, but does the club have any policies on helping out junior or grassroots teams in other developing countries? I think it would be a good marketing investment for a very tiny pinch of money to have one in every country. It would keep kids off the streets and create an interest in the club as well.

They do City Soccer Schools in India, the UAE and maybe one or two other places, but at the end of the day they're just week-long courses run a few times a year for school kids to come and have fun while learning a few skills. Aside from NYCFC's involvement with its "youth affiliates", where they are trying to create an academy, I'm not aware of City directly aiding any grassroots teams.