Cross-cultural factors, knowledge transfer and football development in China: Insights from a mixed methods approach
Cross-cultural factors, knowledge transfer and football development in China: Insights from a mixed methods approach

Summary/Abstract: China has launched a long-term plan for football (soccer) development.One of its strategic initiatives consists of recruiting foreigncoaches to obtain advanced skills and knowledge. The aim of thisarticle is to analyse the reasons why the competitiveness of Chinesefootball has not yet reached the level of other countries, as well as toinvestigate the role played by the knowledge transferred by coachesfrom a leading football country such as Spain. Based on a mixedmethods research design, the results suggest three reasons for thelower level of development of football in China: the prioritisation of academicsuccess by young Chinese football players, traditional learningvia repetition and automatisms, and the lack of success of China’snational football team. The study contributes to the literature on theinfluence of cultural factors on national athletic success. Moreover, itoffers practical implications for improving China’s national strategy forfootball development.

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