Messi saga shows Chinese football market comes with political risks

Superstar’s no-show in Hong Kong friendly sparks furore over perceived snub to China

- Michelle Ng

China is a huge market for the world's most popular sport but the saga involving Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi shows that tapping the Chinese market comes with political risks, say analysts.

The Inter Miami player sat out a friendly match in Hong Kong on Feb 4 citing an injury but took to the field for 30 minutes in Japan for another match three days later.

Already angry that Messi did not play in Hong Kong, many people in Hong Kong and China were left further incensed by what they saw as a snub by the football star, who had also failed to shake hands with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee after the Hong Kong match, detractors noted.

Football fans, including those from mainland China, had reportedly paid HK$880 (S$151) to HK$4,880 to attend the Hong Kong match.

The backlash in China was so great that Messi had to put out a short video on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Feb 19 to explain why he could not play in the Hong Kong match.

He said an injury had led him to sit out the match, rejecting claims that he skipped play for political reasons as "totally untrue".

On the day of the Japan match on Feb 7, Chinese state media Global Times published a strongly-worded editorial saying it does not rule out the possibility that the actions carried "political motives" and were done to deliberately "embarrass" Hong Kong, adding that the impact of the incident "has far exceeded the realm of sports".

Mr Lye Liang Fook, a senior fellow at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, said that in Beijing's eyes, Messi's actions not only "publicly humiliated" the Hong Kong authorities, but also by extension, disrespected China and its population of 1.4 billion people.