A sport that looks irrelevant to the world's most populated country. One man and one plan, Xi Jinping beside the Chinese Football Federation pretend to convert the country in one of the big ones in this sport. The BBC notes that Chinese government wants 50 million children and adults playing football for 2020, also plan to invest in infrastructure to reach 20.000 training centers and 70.000 football fields. China expects to be in 2020 the best masculine team in Asia and have one the greatest woman's team in the world. The question is, how they can reach these ambition goals? Maybe the economic study could give an answer.
The theory:
Inside the economic development debate, a concept has become relevant, the know how. This theory explains the gap between development and undeveolopment countries with the knowledge that allows the specialization and the diversification such and between industries. Even though knowledge can be learned, the know-how is more complex, in words of Hausmann, Hidalgo et al. (2011) the knowledge is embedded in human brains and networks: it comes for years of experience more than years of school, it can't be learned easy and require structural changes.
An easy way to understand the theory could be the German scientistic migration to the United States after the Second World War, for example, Wernher von Braun who had a lot of knowledge in missiles and rockets was the pioneer of the Apollo program.
The present:
According to FIFA data, China has more than 1.3 billion people and 25,000 registered football players. The reality is that the men's squad is ranked by FIFA in the 81st position below much smaller nations like Haiti, Guinea, Congo and Panama, and far from their industrialized trading neighbors like South Korea (37) And Japan (46).
In this last year, the Chinese league spent more than 360 million dollars to buy new players, mostly foreigners, listing some of the last and most important signings: Carlos Tevez, Axel Witsel, Graziano Pelle, Oscar, Hulk, Alex Texeira, Jackson Martinez, and Ramires. On the side of the coaches, Chinese clubs have for some time looked to Europe and have made with good talents like Luiz Felipe Scolari, Manuel Pellegrini, Marcelo Lippi, Luxembourg, Cannavaro, Sven-Göran Eriksson, Gregorio Manzano, among others.
Before judging the cost and huge wages of these players, which for the Chinese seem irrelevant, the investment they make goes beyond show and increase the quality and competitiveness within the Chinese super league, the goal is to file knowledge Productive, high-performing players, with experience in the most demanding championships of European football, just as those who run these clubs were some of the great world champions such as Scolari and Lippi and other good club coaches in Europe.
The leaders of the Chinese project seem to be clear, their mission goes beyond the spectacle, while in the United States the world football stars are looking for a quiet place to retire, the Chinese project is mostly looking for players that arrive in great physical and competitive conditions in their careers.
Furthermore, the Chinese league wins in quality and many Chinese players share a dressing room with the "know how" blessed foreign players, this does not necessarily imply that there will be a complete transmission and we are going to see the "10" Chinese doing the dribbles like Tevez.
Within the economic development, theory the problem of the "Know How" is in how to obtain it, and as the economist Ricardo Hausmann points out "It is easier to move brains than to move knowledge from one brain to another" pitifully China can't nationalize all these foreigners players and force them to play for China.
Those who are behind this ambitious project seem to have understood these premises very well, have enough capital to build the infrastructure and bring the talent, it will be a task to encourage in Chinese youth the desire to compete in this sport, ceteris paribus, if we think where could be born the next Messi or Ronaldo, China with 20% of total human population on this planet only by probability would be the first candidate to conceive to the new crack of the worldwide soccer.
Time will give the answer if in a couple of decades the dream of Xi Jinping could become a reality.
Hidalgo, C., Klinger, B., Barabási, L., & Hausmann, R. (2007). The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations. (A. A. Science, Ed.) Obtenido de http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5837/482.full
Hausmann, R. (2013) La economía del conocimiento tácito. Project Syndicate. Obtenido de: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ricardo-hausmann-on-the-mental-sources-of-productivity-growth/spanish
BBC Mundo (2016) . El ambicioso plan con el que China quiere convertirse en una superpotencia del fútbol en 2050. Obtenido de: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/04/160411_plan_china_superpotencia_futbol_2050_dgm
The theory:
Inside the economic development debate, a concept has become relevant, the know how. This theory explains the gap between development and undeveolopment countries with the knowledge that allows the specialization and the diversification such and between industries. Even though knowledge can be learned, the know-how is more complex, in words of Hausmann, Hidalgo et al. (2011) the knowledge is embedded in human brains and networks: it comes for years of experience more than years of school, it can't be learned easy and require structural changes.
An easy way to understand the theory could be the German scientistic migration to the United States after the Second World War, for example, Wernher von Braun who had a lot of knowledge in missiles and rockets was the pioneer of the Apollo program.
The present:
According to FIFA data, China has more than 1.3 billion people and 25,000 registered football players. The reality is that the men's squad is ranked by FIFA in the 81st position below much smaller nations like Haiti, Guinea, Congo and Panama, and far from their industrialized trading neighbors like South Korea (37) And Japan (46).
In this last year, the Chinese league spent more than 360 million dollars to buy new players, mostly foreigners, listing some of the last and most important signings: Carlos Tevez, Axel Witsel, Graziano Pelle, Oscar, Hulk, Alex Texeira, Jackson Martinez, and Ramires. On the side of the coaches, Chinese clubs have for some time looked to Europe and have made with good talents like Luiz Felipe Scolari, Manuel Pellegrini, Marcelo Lippi, Luxembourg, Cannavaro, Sven-Göran Eriksson, Gregorio Manzano, among others.
Before judging the cost and huge wages of these players, which for the Chinese seem irrelevant, the investment they make goes beyond show and increase the quality and competitiveness within the Chinese super league, the goal is to file knowledge Productive, high-performing players, with experience in the most demanding championships of European football, just as those who run these clubs were some of the great world champions such as Scolari and Lippi and other good club coaches in Europe.
The leaders of the Chinese project seem to be clear, their mission goes beyond the spectacle, while in the United States the world football stars are looking for a quiet place to retire, the Chinese project is mostly looking for players that arrive in great physical and competitive conditions in their careers.
Furthermore, the Chinese league wins in quality and many Chinese players share a dressing room with the "know how" blessed foreign players, this does not necessarily imply that there will be a complete transmission and we are going to see the "10" Chinese doing the dribbles like Tevez.
Within the economic development, theory the problem of the "Know How" is in how to obtain it, and as the economist Ricardo Hausmann points out "It is easier to move brains than to move knowledge from one brain to another" pitifully China can't nationalize all these foreigners players and force them to play for China.
Those who are behind this ambitious project seem to have understood these premises very well, have enough capital to build the infrastructure and bring the talent, it will be a task to encourage in Chinese youth the desire to compete in this sport, ceteris paribus, if we think where could be born the next Messi or Ronaldo, China with 20% of total human population on this planet only by probability would be the first candidate to conceive to the new crack of the worldwide soccer.
Time will give the answer if in a couple of decades the dream of Xi Jinping could become a reality.
Hidalgo, C., Klinger, B., Barabási, L., & Hausmann, R. (2007). The Product Space Conditions the Development of Nations. (A. A. Science, Ed.) Obtenido de http://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5837/482.full
Hausmann, R. (2013) La economía del conocimiento tácito. Project Syndicate. Obtenido de: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ricardo-hausmann-on-the-mental-sources-of-productivity-growth/spanish
BBC Mundo (2016) . El ambicioso plan con el que China quiere convertirse en una superpotencia del fútbol en 2050. Obtenido de: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/04/160411_plan_china_superpotencia_futbol_2050_dgm
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