Record golf resort buys into Chinese football dream

[Sports News]

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The owner of the world's biggest golf resort is joining China's rush to football investment by building a Barcelona-backed academy aimed at breeding a new generation of "national heroes". Mission Hills, which has two giant golf complexes in China's south, hopes to house more than 1,000 children at its under-construction facility on Hainan island, which will also be a training centre for China's national team and top clubs. It follows a stampede of Chinese investment in foreign clubs, players, coaches and media rights after President Xi Jinping said he wanted the world's most populous nation to become a global football power.

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