Football may be the global game, but global franchising could be the
next big thing for soccer fans in China. Mexican club Chivas
Guadalajara has announced it plans to extend its football brand, which
also owns clubs in the United States and Costa Rica, to Hefei.
Club owner and president of cosmetics and healthcare products supplier,
Omnilife, Jorge Vergara Madrigal visited Hefei, capital of central
China’s Anhui province, last week to discuss both the new football club
and a new manufacturing plant. Vergara Madrigal also owns Costa Rican
team Saprissa and is joint-owner of Los Angeles-based MLS club Chivas
USA.
"The new team will be called Chivas Hefei. It will play at the Hefei
Olympic Stadium, and will begin in the Chinese second division," said
Néstor de la Torre, Vice President of Chivas. "The people are very
enthusiastic, and we need the support of the community, the authorities
and from the large companies in the region.”
The Chivas delegation also visited Shanghai and Beijing, “for meetings
with a first-division team that is also interested in cooperating,”
said de la Torre. “We also have other options here.” He added that the
Mexican club would be looking to contract players from China for its
Mexican, U.S. and Costa Rican teams.
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