Collaboration can boost soccer & basketball

As Chinese soccer gets ready for a major overhaul thanks to repeated urging from President Xi Jinping, a well-known fan of the sport, basketball star Stephon Marbury, has offered a suggestion to boost both sports combine them.

"I wish we could join them together," said the Beijing Ducks' point guard, who is also an active supporter of Chinese Super League team Beijing Guo'an.

"I want to build a collaboration between Guo'an and the Ducks (to create) a soccer field and a basketball court, with a restaurant and a sports complex that has facilities for people to work out," he says.

On Feb 27, a policymaking team led by the president approved a comprehensive reform plan to boost soccer from the playground to the stadium, to transform the country into a soccer powerhouse. Since then, authorities nationwide have vowed to build more facilities for the sport.

Marbury says he believes Chinese basketball can also capitalize on the growth opportunity by associating with the plan. He also pointed out that the footwork needed to be a good soccer player can be a valuable asset in basketball, too.

"I would like to see that invest in both to get two big things."

Soccer and basketball have been battling to be the No 1 sport in China for a long time, and experts on both sides claim their sport has a larger fan base.

Despite lofty expectations, China has been unable to make remarkable achievements in either sport. The country's soccer team has appeared at only one World Cup, in 2002, while the national basketball team's greatest achievement has been finishing eighth in the World Championship in 1994.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/08/2015 page28)