Blues strike China deal

Chelsea have agreed to work with the Asian Football Confederation on their grassroots development programme in China.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon signed an exclusive deal with AFC president Mohamed binHammam which will see the Premiership champions support the confederation’s ‘Vision China’ development project.

The project, which is due to be expanded from two to 15 cities across China, is part of the ‘Vision Asia’ plan implemented by Hammam in 2002 and is currently running in seven nations across the confederation’s 46 member countries.

“This is the first time ever a club from Europe has introduced itself to Asia as a developer of football in Asia and to help out Asian football along with our coaches, leagues and referees,” said Hammam.

“I’m very proud today to have signed with Chelsea a memorandum of understanding and Chelsea is going to support Vision Asia.”

Chelsea’s involvement has yet to be determined but Kenyon insisted the club were not using the project as a public relations exercise or as a way to unearth talent from the world’s most populous nation.

“We are not in this to identify or get players cheap or to come on tours or do those things,” he said. “This is a long-term market for us, it’s a critical part of the world.

“We operate in a global market for talent anyway and we have 17 different nationalities playing for Chelsea and it’s obvious when you look at the growth of the sport here that there are players from this region playing at the top level in Europe, but that’s not the primary focus here. It’s really to be part of the development long term.”