Hoeness wants Chinese player at Bayern

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness is keen to make the most of the growing interest in football in China and believes fielding a Chinese player could prove to be very lucrative for the Bavarians.

Football has become increasingly important in China in recent years, with a number of high-profile names moving to the country’s Super League in recent years and investors from the Asian country gaining influence at European clubs.

Bayern have built a number of academies in China to help improve the standard of the game and Hoeness hopes their strategy will eventually pay off financially.

“The Chinese are new on the market because their president has decided football should be the country’s main sport,” Hoeness told Blick.

“Football will also be the most important sport in schools.

“We have built four football academies in China and my philosophy is that there will be a Chinese player at Bayern at some stage. And there will be a lot of interest when we have this Chinese player.

“If we then play a game on Saturday at 2pm, when it is primetime in Shanghai or Beijing, 300 million Chinese fans will be watching on their iPhone, all paying €1 to watch the game. You can imagine where this is going.”