Interview: Silk Road offering new opportunities for football in China and Spain

With clubs such as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid and boasting players such as Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the Spanish Football League (LaLiga) is arguably the most attractive in the world.

Speaking to Xinhua on Monday, LaLiga President Javier Tebas explained that LaLiga has much more than Barca and Madrid as it also includes sides such as Atletico Madrid, who have played in two of the past three Champions League finals, Sevilla, who have won the last three Europa Leagues, and clubs as famous as Athletic Club Bilbao, Valencia, Villarreal and Real Sociedad.

Two Spanish sides, Espanyol and Granada are now owned by Chinese-controlled companies, while Wanda owner Wang Jianlin has a 20 percent stake in Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad. Espanyol and second division side Rayo Vallecano all have Chinese sponsors.

However, Tebas explained this is far from being a one-way relationship as LaLiga is taking advantage of the new ease of trading and operating in China facilitated by the new Silk Road, to take Spanish football to millions of new fans.

He told Xinhua that LaLiga has worked hard to become competitive in economic terms and the fruits of that were visible in the "the increased competitiveness on the pitch."

"I think it is a passionate league," he said.

"Over 20 percent of the world population lives in China, which is a country with passion for sport and which is starting to find a passion for football and whose sides are doing big things at club level in Asia," said Tebas.

Realizing that it is not enough just to have famous teams and the two best players in the world in order to win an audience, LaLiga has been working hard to promote Spanish football in China.

Three years ago the LaLiga opened offices in Beijing and Shanghai and they recently signed a major TV deal with PPTV, which "allows us to distribute our games free to air in various provincial and national TV network," explained Mr Tebas.

He said the near future would see LaLiga increase its efforts to raise the profile of the Spanish game with more people working in China, not just in big cities, but all over the country.

"If LaLiga wants to be part of Chinese society, we have to be in those places as well. Football is a sport and a product, so you have to be in rural China, provincial China and the big cities," he said.

Recent summers have seen various Spanish sides play games in China, while LaLiga has also appointed several former players, such as Michel Salgado, Kiko Navaraez, Marcos Senna and Carles Puyol as ambassadors allowing fans to contact with players they had only seen on TV.

"What we want to do is to reach all of the areas of China and we will do it with people linked to the league. We are looking for a partner in the Chinese market that will help us grow with shops, restaurants and cafes and we also want to create centers for Spanish football in China's main cities to take us closer to the Chinese people who follow LaLiga," Tebas told Xinhua.

One problem for Chinese fans of Barca, Madrid or Sevilla is the time difference which means late games in Spain kick off in the early hours of the morning in Asia, but every weekend LaLiga schedules games with midday, 1pm and 4.15pm kick-off times to try and solve that problem.

Tebas admitted the "strategic aim" of those times was the "Asian market".

"Some of our fans don't sleep in order to watch big games, but we have to let them sleep and set timetables to allow them to do... I think it is a balanced schedule that is very good for us all," he said.

Finally, Tebas noted that LaLiga wants "more clubs to be known in China," so the games shown in China allow fans of all clubs to watch their heroes and it looks as if the strategy is working as Chinese fans begin to take on habits which are no different from supporters in Spain.

"We have detected meetings of people to watch Liga games outside of their homes in pubs and bars and also in home on their own TV's. Our games have the timetable to allow people to enjoy them," he said.

As the Silk Road initiative was set up, it has opened up new opportunities both in financial terms and in questions of culture. Endit