Month: February 2018

Wigan Athletic takeover, AFC open to offers, China’s Olympic-sized delegation and more

Here’s a summary of what you can find in my weekly China Digest for SportBusiness:

Hong Kong’s IEC in line for Wigan Athletic takeover

[UPDATE] As this column was going to press, news was filtering through that International Entertainment Corporation (IEC), controlled by Hong Kong’s well-known Cheng family, has entered into a two-week period of exclusivity (expiring Feb 14) to agree terms for a 100% takeover of English League One club Wigan Athletic.

Wigan, owned since 1995 by Dave Whelan, are currently looking like a good bet to return to the Championship, lying four points clear of 3rd place with two games in hand in their bid for one of the two automatic promotion spots. The club played in the Premier League for eight seasons from 2005 to 2013, winning the FA Cup just three days before being relegated to the Championship, so the potential is there given their recent history.

So if the proposed @LaticsOfficial takeover by the Cheng family goes through, will @realDonaldTrump will be invited to games?! Cheng Sr did a $90m deal with Trump in the 90s for some Manhattan real estate: https://t.co/EBhPZzOoIY