High hopes from soccer clubs

Electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group acquiring majority stake in top Italian soccer club Inter Milan is just the latest example of Chinese businesses making their way into overseas sports clubs. Chinese investments have been linked with Italy-based sports rights group MP & Silva, AC Milan, and US-based Galatioto Sports Partners, and likely a French soccer team.

The reason why European soccer teams are interested in Chinese investors is that the latter have "ample capital". However, what Chinese investors should focus on is not "philanthropy", but opportunities for making competitive profits, especially at a time when Europe is facing economic slowdown.

For European soccer clubs suffering financial difficulties, the march of Chinese investors toward European soccer is like "rainfall after a long drought". For Chinese investors, what economic effects such a venture can bring, however, is yet to be seen.