Economy

Sports apparel helps fill the kitty

By Andrew Moody (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-30 11:48

Bridgewater said the leading English Premiership clubs were stepping up their efforts to market themselves in China with a number now having websites in Chinese.

"I think this is an indication of the type of potential they see in China," she said.

Bridgewater acknowledges the big breakthrough could come if China were to host the World Cup itself.

Wei Di, the new head of the Chinese Football Association, indicated China was ready to bid for the 2026 tournament earlier this month.

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He said it would provide a boost to China as a soccer playing nation, guaranteeing a place in the finals for the national side as the host nation.

"China made a big success of the Olympics and if they decided to put themselves behind running the World Cup I am sure they would run it incredibly well. It is actually a very profitable tournament to stage and brings in a lot of money," she said.

She said all the major sportswear brand owners were focusing their attention on China since it was now the key market to aim at.

"It is a massive sports goods market. It is a big market for consumer goods generally but this is particularly the case in the sports area where you have the big international brands against strong domestic ones also," she said.