20 Jan 2009Beijing Guoan receive £2.1m cash injection

Football Clubs News | Football Finance News

Chinese football team Beijing Guoan are set to receive a sizeable investment of 20 million yuan (£2.1 million) from the country's government, Reuters reported yesterday (January 19th).

The money is designed to help improve the reputation of football in the capital by allowing the Chinese Super League side to focus on improving youth development.

However, it has also be designated for funding the visit of English champions Manchester United, who are scheduled to take on Guoan in a friendly in July.

Speaking at a news conference, Sun Kanglin, head of the Beijing Sports Bureau, was quoted by the news provider as commenting: "We know the external perception of football is not good enough, so the bureau will promote the city club by giving support in terms of human resource and money, in order to better display Beijing via such a window in the future."

Chinese football has been associated with corruption and violence on and off the pitch for a number of years, while the national team has not progressed as expected in recent times.

Guoan have cancelled plans to play their home games in the 80,000-seater 'Bird's Nest' Olympic Stadium for fear of damaging the venue's now-iconic reputation.

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