Burnley FC aims to turn Inner Mongolia claret

This weekend, soccer fans around the world will be celebrating the return of the English Premier League-and China is no exception.

In dozens of countries, supporters will get up early or stay up late to watch their favorite teams square up in one of the world's most avidly-watched sporting competitions.

But in Inner Mongolia, rather than Manchester City or Liverpool, the team watched most keenly is likely to be unfashionable Burnley- because a partnership with local University of Central Lancashire has seen Burnley emerge as the team who could shape the future of soccer in Inner Mongolia.

"For some while we've been working delivering soccer-based provision at the university's campuses in China," Neil Hart, chief executive of the club's charitable arm, Burnley FC in the Community, told China Daily.

"Through that, we've got to know their contacts who introduced us to a club called Lan'ao, based in Tongliao. The Inner Mongolia Football Association invited bids for an international partner, and we were chosen ahead of teams from all over Europe. I think the university connection really helped and as a result, we're establishing a solid foundation of soccer development in the region.

"We're in discussions about rolling out a Burnley FC-branded training program, which will involve rebuilding facilities and, over the next five years, five staff working there on a permanent basis, teaming up with local schools and working with local coaches to improve training techniques.

"We're waiting on the contracts but hopefully the program will start before the end of the year. The way coaching operates in China is very different to back home, so it's about us sharing our expertise as a club and supporting the locals."

The Clarets, as the team is known, finished 14th out of 20 teams in the Premier League last season. They play in the northern county of Lancashire, at the 22,000-seater Turf Moor stadium, in a town with a population of around 90,000.

For comparative purposes, Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium has a capacity of 76,000, but despite the club's relative modesty, Burnley is one of English soccer's most historic clubs, established in 1882 and one of the 12 founder member clubs of the Football League, the world's oldest domestic soccer competition, in 1888.

The club has been based at Turf Moor, close to the center of Burnley, for more than 130 years, and Hart says that in Inner Mongolia, these community roots and heritage are respected.

"Other clubs used middle men, but the people in Inner Mongolia know they're communicating with me, directly, in my office in our stadium," he explained. "We keep things real. We're a grounded club which is part of our community, not some corporate giant, and they value that authenticity. In fact comparing attendances to the size of town population, Burnley is the best supported team in the country. We're proud of that spirit, and that's what we take to our international partners."

The club currently has two staff based in Changsha, Hunan province, and hopes the new current project will make a lasting difference.

"This is about longevity," said Hart. "From October or November, for the next five years, we'll have five full-time staff out there, engaging with around 100 local coaches. The scale of China is almost incomprehensible, which presents challenges, but we love challenges, we love being underdogs."

Distance is not that big an issue, Hart insists-"Inner Mongolia sounds and is perceived as being a lot further away than it actually is, but the journey is pretty straight forward"-and technology means the language barrier is easily surmountable.

As a commercial organization, results off the field are as important to Burnley as results on it, and the club, whose principal commercial partner is a Chinese betting company, is keen to raise brand awareness in such a potentially lucrative market. But Hart insists that is not why Burnley is involved in Inner Mongolia.

"Awareness of the club is crucial, and if we can build a fanbase which means more revenue, then that's great, but we want to give something back too," he said. "It's not just about getting something out of this experience for ourselves. In all the commercial opportunities the club gets involved with, giving benefits to the people we work with is always important.

"Chinese soccer has some work to do on coaching and methodology, but a lot of Europe's biggest clubs are there doing a lot of work, all of which will help. The Premier League is such a high standard that realistically it's a while off yet, but if one day in the future we had a Chinese national on the pitch at Turf Moor, playing for Burnley-that would be great."