双语阅读｜足球：中国海外投资热点
WILL the Reds go red? Everbright, a Chinese state-backed financial conglomerate, is reportedly keen to buy Liverpool Football Club, one of the sport’s most celebrated names. If it were to happen, it would be the biggest in a series of recent investments made by mainland firms in European football (see chart). Some think such moves will redraw the sporting map. Arsène Wenger, manager of Arsenal, a London club, has said that China has the financial wherewithal to “move a whole league of Europe to China”.
利物浦红军会被红色资本收购吗？有报道称，国资背景的金融巨头光大欲收购利体育界最知名品牌物浦俱乐部。若能达成这笔交易，那么这将成为近期中国大陆资本最大一笔欧洲足球队收购案。甚至有些人认为此举会颠覆体育世界格局。伦敦的阿森纳俱乐部教练温格曾表示，他认为中国有财力“把整个欧洲联赛球队全部搬到中国”。
The tally of Chinese investment in foreign football clubs since January of last year now stands at $2 billion, according to Rhodium Group, a consulting firm. The sums keep growing. The biggest deal yet was the takeover of AC Milan for $820m by a mainland consortium, announced on July 5th. Chinese money has also cascaded towards individual footballers, who often join the world’s best paid. The latest jaw-dropping deal was Shanghai SIPG’s signing of Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, a Brazilian star known as Hulk, in June for $61m.
根据咨询机构荣鼎集团统计，从2015年1月至今，中国对国外俱乐部球队的投资总额达到了惊人的数目：20亿美金。这数额还在持续增长。目前为止最大的一笔收购是在7月5日宣布的，一家中国大陆财团以8.2亿美金收购AC米兰。中国资本也向一些球员渗透——他们常进入到全球身价最高的球员。最新的一次巨额签约是就是上港集团在6月以6100万美元签下了巴西球员吉瓦尼尔多-维埃拉-德-索萨，即胡尔克。
China’s president, Xi Jinping, a lifelong football fan, approves. He wants to build a domestic sports industry worth $850 billion by 2025. His other goals are for China to host the World Cup by 2030 and win it soon after. The bureaucracy has swung into action, issuing 50-point policy plans and offering tax breaks and other inducements to firms investing in the game.
中国国家主席习近平是一位铁杆球迷，对此表示赞赏。他希望到2025年，中国国内的体育产业达到8500亿美金。他的另一个目标是能让中国在2030年之前举办世界杯，并之后能赢得世界杯。于是中国官员很快付诸行动，发布了《中国足球改革与发展计划》白皮书，包含50项政策。此外，还向投资足球的企业提供税收减免等优惠。
Many have responded, with Chinese investors in football ranging from the business elite to the relatively unknown. Some businessmen may be mindful of the benefits of being seen to invest in the state’s declared priorities during Mr Xi’s feared anti-corruption campaign. The new owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Guo Guangchang, the boss of Fosun Group, for instance, was briefly detained by police last December before being released with no charges a few days later. Foreign football clubs also offer investors a state-sanctioned way to move money out of China, and a hedge against the falling yuan.
这些举措得到了积极的反响，各界人士纷纷响应，对足球行业的知名或不知道俱乐部进行投资。在中国强大反腐运动展开之际，一些商人则把目光转移到了足球投资，意欲从对政府支持的产业中获得曝光率并因此受益。例如，英冠球队森林狼的新老板，复星国际董事长郭广昌2015年12月曾短暂的遭到了警方扣留，一段时间之后就释放。投资外国足球俱乐部也为资本家们提供了将资产转移出中国的方法，对冲人民币贬值的损失。
Many of those buying clubs abroad are also spending big on football back home. The knowledge gleaned from inspecting the way in which European clubs develop talent should eventually boost skills on pitches in China, where playing standards have long been poor. The investment is not a case of blind adoration for European football, argues Simon Chadwick of Coventry University Business School, but is rather quite strategic.
收购海国俱乐部的企业也对中国足球投入大笔资金。通过了解欧洲球队培养人才的方法最终会运用到提升中国球员的球技水平方面，因为中国球员的球技 一直都很差。考文垂大学商学院的西蒙-查德威克表示，中国财团的投资并非是对欧洲足球的盲目崇拜，而是有战略意义的。
Insiders who know Liverpool FC are playing down the likelihood of an imminent deal, but the club’s owners may be swayed by events 50km away from Anfield, its home. Manchester City, of which 13% is owned by a consortium led by China Media Capital (CMC), a venture-capital firm with a strong presence in Chinese media, is well placed to lift its profile in a vast, untapped football market. Manchester City has recently agreed a deal to set up a satellite club in China.
熟悉利物浦俱乐部的行业人士都不看好与光大的交易，因为利物浦的拥有者们随时可能会对距离利物浦50公里之外发生的事件产生动摇。曼城准备进入这个巨大的，尚未有外资涉足的市场。它的13%的股份是由在中国有强大媒体影响力的中国文化基金(CMC)领衔的资本联合体持有。最近，曼城达成了一项协议，将在中国建立一家俱乐部。
Analysts based in China tend to think that the string of purchases represents a bubble. The nation is likely to have less success in spending its way to the top in football than it has had in the Olympics, says Mark Dreyer of China Sports Insider, an industry blog. Corruption now is not as bad as in the old days of “black ball” scandals, when many matches were fixed. Still, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which hosts betting on a range of sports, remains suspicious and does not allow bets on Chinese football matches.
在中国的一些分析人士倾向于认为这一系列足球俱乐部收购会是一种经济泡沫。足球行业博客“中国体育报道”的马克·德雷尔称，相比于在奥林匹克运动会上取得的巨大成功，中国通过砸钱来收购顶级俱乐部的方式是不可能成功的。”与假球泛滥、黑幕成风的过去相比，现在中国足坛的腐败情况比以前好多了。但是，香港著名的马会博彩公司(承办多种体育竞彩)仍然对中国足赛的真实性持怀疑态度，不允许对中国足球赛事下注。
And the problem with state backing is that it could easily lead to the sort of industrial policies that have led to overinvestment and underperformance in several other Chinese industries. The chances of China becoming a global chip-making superpower, for example, are slim, even though it plans to spend over $100 billion buying semiconductor firms and technologies, said Bain & Company, a consultancy, in a recent study. A report drawing similar conclusions about China’s ambitions in football could soon be on its way.
政府的大力支持可能带来的与其它行业政策相类似的问题，一方面会引起投资过剩，另一方面会引起业绩不佳。例如，贝恩咨询公司在最近的一项研究中称，中国计划投资1000亿美金收购半导体企业和相关技术，但是，它要成为全球芯片制造业超级大国的可能性很小。一份有关中国在足球方面的雄心壮志的报告得到了类似结论，并将在近期发布。
编译：邱堃
审校：李敏
编辑：翻吧君
来源：经济学人