The Footballization of China

Gaining the right to host a World Cup is doable, but winning it? Well, that’s something else. The book The Footballization of China is written by Professor Emeritus Sten Söderman and it´s about the development of football in China.

Many observers of the Chinese football industry wonder how a country can achieve world dominance in a sport in which it has no previous success. This lack of history means there are no reliable data upon which to make meaningful predictions.

 - Therefore, using network strategy at club level and applying it to national level – common practice in analysis of industrial sectors – and creating some variables of my own, I examine how the Chinese have developed a competitive football system through a combination of government directives, market liberalization and privatization. By definition, my methodology has introduced an element of subjectivity into my analysis and conclusions says Sten Söderman.

 - Nevertheless, I assess the current state of football in China and suggest ways of improving the national men’s team’s international competitiveness and increasing its chances of winning the 2050 World Cup he continues.

The Footballization of China

More attention is needed in order to also promote and develop female football, which has shown impressive results lately at a national level and which has a large untapped potential. The book’s main contribution is to provide a mainstream micro- and macroeconomic perspective on a subject area long dominated more by journalists and anecdotal evidence than by academic research.

Sten Söderman hope his approach will complement the more commonly found treatments of the topic, stressing the situational uniqueness of driving forces, of stakeholder views and of following strategies developed on the back of government directives. He also develop the argument that the Western and Chinese development approaches and cultural issues can be partly reconciled.

Sten Söderman is Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Stockholm Business School.

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