The emerging labour market and transformation from state amateurs to professional athletes

Corporate governance and its associated concerns had no bearing on Chinese industry management before its national economic reform in the early 1980s. The government's intention has been tomake all state-owned enterprisesmore effective and efficient than they previously were by gradually introducing Western enterprise methods with a capitalist market approach. The article explores the notion of corporate governance in the context of Chinese football by studying the emerging labour markets and management of professional football players to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues concerning the governance of Chinese sports and its human resource management. It seeks to contribute to the development of stakeholder theory as an important analytical framework on Chinese management studies in the field of professional sport during its economic transition.