Soccer helps Chinese firms aim for bigger goals

In 2012, I found myself watching the final of the UEFA Euro tournament in the bar of a youth hostel in Qingdao during a university summer break.

I remember that my Spanish friends and I were surrounded by dozens of Chinese soccer fans in their early 20s wearing official Spanish and Italian national jerseys. To our surprise, they were as equally excited about the game as we were.

Despite the overwhelming enthusiasm for soccer among the young people in the bar, I could have never predicted that soccer would become such an important issue for the Chinese economy.