Luis Garcia played football with students at Hangzhou Kaiyuan Middle School.
By Fang Jingyi
The Champion Platinum League (CPL) will kick off in Hangzhou this May and run for about three months at the Lin’an Culture and Exhibition Center.
The debut tournament will feature a 7-a-side football format, with player recruitment beginning in mid-April. A total of 12 teams will be formed to compete. Exciting matches will light up weekend evenings from mid-May through the end of August.
At a press conference held in March, LaLiga ambassadors and legendary Spanish footballers Iker Casillas and Luis Garcia arrived in Lin’an district to support the event. Garcia also visited Hangzhou’s Kaiyuan Middle School, where he shared his journey in football with local students and coached them in football skills.
The CPL is an officially licensed LaLiga project in China, combining world-class football resources with local market needs. It blends competitive football and entertainment through its innovative “Football + Gaming + Livestreaming” format, which has emerged as a major highlight.
“The Champion Platinum League represents an innovative initiative that blends football and entertainment, with great potential to boost the development of Chinese football,” said Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga. By introducing LaLiga’s advanced management practices and technologies, the CPL aims to elevate grassroots and youth football in China and inject fresh energy into the country’s football industry.
Throughout the League season, more than 15 top-tier international football stars will visit China. Their presence in Hangzhou is expected to ignite a wave of football fever in the city.