The country aims to grow its sports market to 5 trillion yuan () by 2025, about a five-fold leap from its current size, and soccer will play a large part.China's ambitions were highlighted in a high-profile investment, its biggest in the sport overseas, last December when a consortium led by state-backed China Media Capital took a $400 million stake in the owner of Manchester City.SPONSORSHIP STRUGGLEFIFA's new president Gianni Infantino first announced the 15-year sponsorship deal with Dalian Wanda in Zurich on Friday .
A source close to the deal said the sponsorship from Wanda would be worth "hundreds of millions of dollars"."We are lending them a hand during their toughest period," Wang told Reuters after Monday's press conference.FIFA has been thrown into turmoil over the last year with criminal investigations underway into the sport in the
United States, where several dozen former soccer officials have been indicted, and Switzerland.It has struggled to find new sponsors since the current crisis erupted and has failed to replace top-tier partners Sony and Emirates after their deals expired at the end of 2014.
Wang, whose backing helped the Dalian club to four Chinese league titles from 1994 to 1999, said he had been undeterred by the scandal."This sponsorship is totally worthwhile because I believe that in the future the soccer industry in China and Asia will become the same as in Europe," he said."No matter what happened at