LaLiga: "Matches involving Espanyol attract bigger audiences in China than Real or Barça" (J. Tebas)

"It's evident that China wants to have players that compete in football's elite and it's very interesting for us because Chinese players, like Wu Lei (Chinese striker who joined RCD Espanyol, LaLiga Santander, in January 2019), are a big part of this strategy. Statistically, matches involving Espanyol attract bigger audiences in China than matches involving Real Madrid CF (LaLiga Santander) or FC Barcelona (LaLiga Santander). This is beneficial for clubs in LaLiga because if (Chinese viewers) watch a match involving Wu Lei, they're also watching other teams and we hope that they keep watching more games because of this," said Javier Tebas president of LaLiga, to the Spanish sports daily Marca on 26/08/2019.

Javier Tebas was present in Kunming (China) to attend the laying of the foundations of the permanent LaLiga Academy in China on 25/08/2019. Two days earlier, the Spanish league and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) had presented the "GoalFuture" project in Beijing, which aims to promote the integration of young Chinese players into Spanish professional clubs.

"For us, in…