Chinese fans ready to savor passion of Brazilian league
Chinese fans may soon get to taste real Brazilian samba soccer every week as Clube dos 13 - an umbrella organization of Brazil's top 20 clubs - has announced it is preparing to telecast Brazilian league matches in China.
"We have had talks with the transportation provider and now we are having talks with the local television stations," Joao Gilberto Vaz, Asian Pacific Region Representative of the organization, told China Daily in Beijing on Tuesday.
"We are confident the passion of Brazilian soccer will give Chinese people a totally different feeling from British soccer."
Chinese soccer fans will get a chance to watch legendary clubs like Vasco Da Gama, Corinthians and Santos, homes to legends of the past like Pele and the stars of the future.
Current fan favorites who got their start in the Brazilian league include Ronaldo, Robinho, Ronaldinho and Kaka.
"Brazil soccer has the passion and the creativity. Apart from Kaka and Ronaldinho, we have lots of good players, some are even better than them. But they are not known to people yet."
"Sometimes Kaka even played better matches when he was in the domestic league than he does in Europe. But people had no chance to see him on TV."
Vaz added that in addition to live matches there will be highlights packages as well as programs on the relationship between Brazilian soccer and culture.
In China, soccer on sports channels is dominated by top European leagues like Italian Serie A and English Premier League.
Vaz was also pleased to announce that they have reached a deal with Singapore-based company ST Teleport, a full-service satellite communications solution provider, and it allows them to offer local TV viewers the best possible signal.
"We have had talks in India, Singapore and Hong Kong. We are stepping up efforts to promote Brazilian soccer in Asia.
"I have confidence that after three years, five out of ten people in China who are watching soccer at the weekend will be viewers of Brazilian soccer," said Vaz.
The plan also includes sending Chinese soccer players to train at Brazilian clubs. Chinese coaches and assistant coaches will get an internship with Brazilian teams to improve their coaching capabilities.
Vaz said Japan is a good example of the benefits of co-operating with Brazilian soccer.
"Look at Japan. They've been sending players and coaches to Brazil for ten years. Their soccer is improving fast."
In Brazil, there are 11,000 players competing within the 27 Brazilian State Football Federations, the largest number in the world. The country also boasts the largest number of professional clubs (more than 500) and largest number of stadiums (over 300) in the world.
(China Daily 06/14/2007 page22)
