Football, Business and State Power in Contemporary China

1. Introduction 2. Chinese Football Development: An Overview 3. The Organization of Chinese Football 4. Theorizing State-Business Relations 5. Corporate Political Strategy in the Chinese Football Industry 6. Why Invest in Football? 7. What Factors Determine Whether Firms and Governments Will Enter into Social Exchange through Football? 8. Types of Corporate Political Strategy employed by Firms investing in Chinese Football 9. Conclusion

Biography

Tobias Ross is an independent researcher with a PhD in Politics from the University of Nottingham, UK. His research focuses on the political and commercial dimensions of Chinese sport – particularly football and gaming – within the broader contexts of state capitalism, political economy and corporate non-market strategy. In addition to academic research, he works in international marketing and strategic development in professional football.

Jonathan Sullivan is a China specialist and Associate Professor of Politics and IR at the University of Nottingham. He has published widely on Chinese politics, the Chinese internet, sport and pop culture. A volume on authoritarianism and global sport (with Ricardo Gudel Fernandez and Emilio Hernandez Correa) is also forthcoming with Routledge. 

This impressive addition to the growing body of literature about men’s football in China not only tells the story of the sport’s development and of its current lowly international standing but also provides a lens through which to examine relations between the sport, Chinese business and the state. Football, Business and State Power in Contemporary China deserves to be widely read not only by fans of Chinese football and those who are interested more generally in the relationship between sport, politics and society but also, perhaps more importantly, by the people who have a direct responsibility to improve the global ranking of Chinese men’s football.

Alan Bairner, Professor of Sport and Social Theory, Loughborough University

Football, Business and State Power in Contemporary China is an eye-opener for anyone wondering why China excels in so many sports yet fails so miserably in football. For those interested in Chinese policymaking and state–business relations, it reveals how the private sector remains policy-driven, often trading political opportunity for sound business strategy. In 2015, China embarked on bold reforms to develop and professionalize football through private investment. Yet years later, the industry lies in shatters, symbolizing policy failure. This meticulous study explains why a state-driven agenda could not succeed in a political environment of guanxi, mianzi, and an opportunistic gaze on state pet projects to advance private business.

Gunter Schubert, Professor of Greater China Studies, University of Tübingen