The external and internal logic of China’s football development as cultural relations

The paper aims to evidence and reflect upon China’s use of football during the New Era (since 2012). Football reform in China has attracted both national and international attention since the announcement of The General Plan of Chinese Football Reform and Development in 2015. Among the state’s stated ambitions has been the building of one of the world’s largest domestic sport economies and becoming a “major footballing nation The latter being expression of the “Chinese football dream” that Xi Jinping commented upon earlier in 2009. With President Xi Jinping having assumed presidential office in late 2012, football initially appeared to take on a new impetus and a new role in China. One that has not been without its internal challenges. At the same time, it is acknowledged that football, as the world’s number one sport, helps to provide scale, reach and connectivity. More than 53 million people watched China v England in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand. Football can be used as a valuable cultural asset and tool that can help to assist a country that uses it to position itself within a fluid world order. In examining the use of football in the New Era the paper draws upon official documents and reports supported by qualitative interviews held between 2020 and 2021. The question that the research sets out to address is How has China used football to enable cultural relations and influence in the New Era? The substantive proposition that is argued for is that football provides a new opportunity and perhaps method for China to look at its cultural relations while still recognizing that there is still a long way for China’s football dream to travel.