Will China’s subsidies unleash a building boom of football fields, as nation pursues ‘Field of Dreams’ to boost favourite sport?
- The central government will provide cash subsidies of up to US$290,543 toward the construction of every standard size 11-a-side playing field
- Smaller pitches for five-a-side and seven-a-side games will get 1 million yuan each, the NDRC said
China may see a building boom of football pitches, as the government steps up its programme to provide facilities, financing and other aid to nurture talent and revitalise one of the nation’s favourite spectator sports.
“China still lags behind in terms of football facilities compared to other countries where football is well-developed,” said the government’s economic planning ministry, in a media briefing. “The subsidies will enable football lovers to have easier access to more and better football pitches, while cutting down on their operating costs.”
The programme, an extension of the 2014 edict by the State Council – the Chinese government’s cabinet – to accelerate the development of the sports industry, foresees more than 70,000 pitches available for public use by next year. The world’s most populous nation had about 10,000 fields at the end of 2016, with another 40,000 attached to schools of different grades, according to the NDRC.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is a self-professed football fan, and the sport has seen a spur in interest since he ascended to head the government in 2012.
Over the past decade, Chinese companies were among the biggest buyers of English Premier League football clubs, a multibillion dollar shopping spree that was halted only in 2016 on concern that the debt-fuelled purchases would lead to capital flight and imperil the Chinese financial system.