China, which has become one of the preferred destinations for ageing footballers who receive big money to play football for few years, suffered a jolt when then English Premier League severed its ties with China’s video streaming website PPTV.
The reason for severing the relationship was due to the nonpayment of around £160 million in March, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
PPTV is one of the most powerful video streaming website in China that allows hundreds of millions of Chinese to watch sports. A statement released by the Premier League reads, “The Premier League confirms that it has today terminated its agreements for Premier League coverage in China with its licensee in that territory. The Premier League will not be commenting further on the matter at this stage.”
However, the main reason is the behaviour of the Chinese media and the habit of mingling politics with sports.
China’s state-owned CCTV the online streaming giant had bullied the National Basketball Association (NBA) back in 2019 when Daryl Morey, the general manager for the Houston Rockets, posted an image in support for the democratic protesters in Hong Kong, saying, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
Last December, German football star Mesut Ozil criticised China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims, the Chinese broadcasters had opted not to televise Arsenal’s Premier League match against Manchester City in protest.
The severance of the English Premier League from China will be a huge blow for Xi Jinping’s plan to transform his nation into a world leader and project its soft power to influence.
A lot of money has been invested in the Chinese Super League to bring it at par with the Europian footballing leagues. However, with the worlds richest football League gone, it will be difficult to propagate the game in China.