At the beginning of June, China’s National Basketball League team Beijing Xionglu signed a strategic partnership with CITIC Guoan Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. and officially changed its name to Beijing Guoan Xionglu. 

This partnership signals CITIC Guoan’s entrance onto the basketball court after their existing stakes in football. In 1992, CITIC Guoan Group Corporation (back then the company was called Beijing Guoan Business Development Corporation/北京国安实业发展总公司) collaborated with the Beijing Municipal Sports Commission and Xiannongtan Sports Technology School to establish Beijing Guoan Football Club, the first professional men’s football club in Beijing. 

The General Manager of Beijing Xionglu Basketball Club, Li Bo says that a strategic partnership contract was signed in May containing collaboration areas such as title sponsorship, sponsorship and stake holdings. The two parties will focus on developing young players, driving Chinese basketball developments and providing better products for the Beijing sports market. 

Beijing Guoan Xionglu was the second professional basketball club approved by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau. It was established in 2014 and started to represent Beijing in the NBL in 2015. Its home stadium is at the National Olympic Sports Center. Currently the average age of Xionglu’s players is under 24 years old and it is hoped that they will mature and become a major force in the next few years.  

Founded in 2004, CITIC Guoan Technology Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Guoan Group and is mainly involved in the real estate business. 

Source: Xinhua

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick