Port Adelaide Australian Rules football club's international academy recruit Chen Shaoliang from China prepares to kick a ball in Adelaide, Australia, March 21, 2017. Port Adelaide Football Club/Handout via REUTERS.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Grabbing a slice of China's huge market has proved elusive for an array of foreign sports but the full-contact game of Australian Rules is planning to tackle the nation head-on with a soft-power offensive backed by business and diplomacy.
The "footy diplomacy" kicks off this weekend when Chinese Premier Li Keqiang watches Port Adelaide Power's season-opener against the Sydney Swans at the Sydney Cricket Ground along with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.Then in May, after a year of meticulous planning, Port and the Gold Coast Suns clash at an athletics stadium in Shanghai, the first regular season Australian Football League (AFL) match to be contested in China.
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