China: Wanda to inaugurate the China Cup in 2017, a friendly competition between national teams

In 2017 Wanda, a Chinese conglomerate in real estate, entertainment and sports, will launch the China Cup, an annual friendly competition between national teams, announced the group on 13/07/2016.

The aim is to invite "leading European and American national teams" to allow the Chinese team, currently 81^st in the FIFA rankings (behind Qatar in 79^th and Saint Kitts and Nevis in 80^th) to improve themselves against high-level opponents.

"The Chinese National Team will play the third qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, so we can only have a four-team tournament next year (in 2017). We will make it eight teams in 2018 or 2019 and see how things go after that. I can promise that it will become the best football tournament in Asia. We are inviting better teams, and (only) 'A' teams to participate in the 'China Cup'. We will do everything we can to guarantee the quality of the teams," said Wang Jianlin, owner of the Wanda group and the richest businessman in China, on 13/07/2016.

Dalian Wanda, a FIFA Partner (2016-2030), also has the ambition to create a new competition between the…