Professor Xu Guoqi from the Department of History was interviewed by The Straits Times on the politics behind the high-profile signing of footballer Alex Teixeira by the Chinese football league's Jiangsu Suning. Backed by tycoons or corporate giants, Chinese clubs have been splurging on big-name players in their prime.

"Whether you are (Alibaba's billionaire founder) Jack Ma or (Evergrande's billionaire chairman) Xu Jiayin, no matter how rich you are, you still have to play the game within the system," historian Xu Guoqi from the University of Hong Kong told The Straits Times.

"So political capital is one reason for their involvement. Furthermore it makes sense from an investment perspective. The companies make money, and it's also a good public relations exercise for the companies, because the Chinese are very interested in football."

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