Wang Jianlin, president of Dalian Wanda

Real estate firm Dalian Wanda, which pulled out of Chinese soccer in protest against match-fixing 11 years ago, has reentered the game, investing 500 million yuan over three years ($77 million) to revitalize the sport.

According to Wang Jianlin, president of Wanda, the enterprise will invest 500 million yuan in the Chinese Football Association in the next three years, which will include sponsorship of the Chinese Super League (CSL) and Chinese Youth League as well as referee training and assessment.

Wanda's comeback comes in the wake of a series of league match-fixing scandals that have led to the punishment of soccer clubs, officials, coaches and former players as well as dismal results for the Chinese national team. The CFA also recently lost its broadcast coverage and title sponsorship from CCTV which undoubtedly has hurt business.

However, the question remains whether a private enterprise like Wanda can save or even help the sport. "China's negligence in developing teenage soccer directly led to the slump in the sport in recent years," said Wei Di, Director of the Soccer Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sport. Currently, the country has less than 50 thousand registered youth footballers. In contrast, China's much smaller neighbor Japan has 600 thousand.

Wang said Wanda reinvested in Chinese soccer for three reasons: the urging of government officials, the welfare of society, and his passionate love for the sport.

He hopes to see the number of registered young footballers return to 700 thousand as it was in the 1990s. "If we make these changes in three years, then we can talk about further cooperation, but if there's no change, I think we will be done," he said.

Wanda's sponsorship may seem like a turning point for soccer in China, but it seems more like a public relations stunt for Wanda and its chairman.

When Wanda's team set a 55-game winning streak and won the Chinese Super League four times in a row between 1994 and 1998, the enterprise made it into the list of the top five most recognized corporations in China in 1998. Later, Wanda shamefully withdrew from the league after the revelation of numerous scandals, including match-fixing, bribing of referees and gambling.

In 2010, Wang donated 1 billion yuan to the Nanjing Government for the reconstruction of the Giant Bao En Pagoda. The donation has since been as an obvious government relations stunt and perhaps a way to secure development deals in the city's central business district.

Chinese soccer's popularity has hit rock-bottom since the reports of scandals emerged. However, just like in real estate market, Wanda could not pass up an opportunity to buy low. Without any other serious bidders, Wanda purchased top sponsorship rights for the CFA for next 3 years for only 500 million yuan. The move boosted Wanda's and Wang's image, earning widespread public and government support.

On the surface, Wang's donation looks great for Chinese soccer. Due to the funding, the CFA will be able to spend 40 million yuan per year to hire a world-class coach for the Chinese national team and send young players to Europe for training. However, the majority of the activities Wang is sponsoring have more to do with improving the result of China's national team at the 2012 Olympics and 2014 FIFA World Cup than improving the sport in China as a whole.

Another question relates to accountability. According to sources, Wang will directly hand over his donation to the CFA, but he will not take part in CFA's operations or management. In this sense, no one knows exactly how CFA officials will spend the money. The CFA, which controls all the offices that manage the Chinese Football League's business affairs, does not report to any independent agency responsible for oversight. Thus, it is vulnerable to corruption.

Without any substantive reforms of the system, no matter how much Wang spends as a sponsor, he won't be able to change the downward trajectory of soccer in China.

The author is a veteran sports journalist covering four Olympic Games. He served as China's Olympic Committee Official Website's correspondent for the 2009 Berlin Athletics World Championship, the 2010 Turkey Basketball World Championship and many other sports events.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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