Martin Lee and His Football Empire

June 14, 2016, Martin Lee, chairman and CEO of Shenzhen Ledman, announced the full acquisition of Australian A-League Newcastle Jets. Two months after the announcement, this Australian professional football club with pure Chinese "blood" came back "home" to China, and had a friendly match with Liaoning Whowin FC, Hong Kong Eastern Sports Club, Hong Kong Kitchee FC and Shenzhen Renren FC in Shenzhen separately.

Among the club acquisition wave of Chinese capital, Jets is the first team coming back to China. As the investor of Jets, Ledman also showed great determination in investment of football industry. Ledman is a business starting from high-tech industry, but in 2015 it changed its stock short name to "Ledman shares" from "Ledman optoelectronic" because of the LED and Sport double main business development strategy.
"Ledman is implementing a huge football industry development plan. Both Australia's Newcastle Jets and Ledman Portuguese league title in Europe are just part of Ledman football industry," said Martin Lee in an exclusive interview with Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, "and as the headquarter of Ledman, Shenzhen will always be at the center of the entire chain."

Foreign occupation, the rapid expansion of industry

Senior fans may remember in the fifth round group stage of the 2009 AFC Champions League, Beijing Guoan was beaten by Newcastle Jets after a reversal and forced out. But since then, Jets has begun to stay away from the AFC and the record declines year after year, lingering in the middle and lower level of A-League. “The team's goal is to return to the AFC within three years." Despite Jets ranked only eighth last season in A-League, Martin Lee made no secret of his ambitions.

With the rapid development of national economy, the Chinese capital has become a powerful force in world football industry. While most of the Chinese capital are eyeing on the higher level European football, Martin Lee chose to invest in Australia Newcastle Jets.

Newcastle Jets Players with Baoan Young Players

"It is entirely from a commercial point of view for Ledman to invest in football." Martin Lee said that as the world's first sport, football industry accounted for 30 percent of the entire sports industry. For any entrepreneur, this is a huge temptation cake, and acquisition of overseas clubs is a great way to expand football industry.

Martin Lee said that opening up the local market in Australia is the primary objective of the development of Jets. "Jets Australia used to be a strong team in A-League, and it is also the most popular local sports club. The team felt the glory, and also experienced silence in recent years. After the entering of Chinese capital, I can clearly feel that the local people filled with hope on the team once again."
In addition to the bright future of the Australian market, Jets has the opportunity to play in AFC, which is the key factor for Martin Lee to make the final decision. "Compared to the European clubs, Jets is easier to be linked with Chinese market by AFC, which is why I set the goal for Jets to return to the AFC within three years. Only when Jets meet with Chinese football teams in the AFC, can it maximize its value in both Australia and China market. "

Domestic Plowing, the creation of Ledman Gene

Martin Lee was inventive in the acquisition of Australian super giants Jets. And in Shenzhen, headquarter of Ledman, instead of acquisition, Martin Lee went an entire different way to invest in football industry - cultivating.

Before Martin Lee started the investment in domestic football, the Chinese Football Association has not yet announced the decision to ban the club relocation. It would have been easy to gain a firm foothold in the professional league by acquiring a mature football team in China super league or A league. But Ledman chose to form a new club and start from playing amateur league. So there is now the Shenzhen Renren playing in B League.

"Compared with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Shenzhen indeed lacks a strong football team to represent the city level. We have come across a number of mature clubs interested in transfer before, but in the end, we thought it was more important to establish a club with good genes,” Martin Lee said, “although Shenzhen Renren is still playing in B League, and has no hope to rush for A League this season, Ledman still holds ambitious goals for this club. We hope that within five years, it will be able to enter the super league. "

Newcastle Jets VS. Hong Kong Eastern Sports

Overall Mastery, the establishment of complete industry chain

Many people think it is absurd to start football industry in Shenzhen where the professional football is in the low. But in the eyes of Martin Lee, Shenzhen football resources are far from poor, and even can be called a bonanza.

Martin Lee believes that although China is a populous country, its soccer population is only 10% of Japan and South Korea. While in recent years, football is flourishing in school and communities, which gives the young city – Shenzhen an inherent advantage in football population compared to other cities. This advantage is the key for Ledman to build a football based industrial chain with Shenzhen as the center.

"We are ready to build Ledman football school," Martin Lee said, “After Ledman foot school built, we will not only has a complete echelon from U13 to U19, but will also be able to provide young players with a more mature rising channel. The establishment of Shenzhen Renren club, the successful acquisition of Jets and the title sponsor of Portuguese League all provide Ledman an advantage in the development of youth football comparing to other domestic clubs."
The ongoing Training Abroad Plan in Shenzhen Renren Club is an important arrangement for Ledman entering into the business of player agent and young player training. And this plan will also become an important [source] of income for Ledman football industry. According to Martin Lee, Ledman will annually send 10 players and three assistant coaches to Portuguese league's 10 top-ranked football clubs, and has hired the youth coach of Cristiano Ronaldo as the leader of players scouting team. With all these advantages, Martin Lee believes that in the near future, there will be a large number of outstanding young football players thriving through Ledman cultivating center.
The acquisition of Jets, the sponsorship of Portuguese League, the establishment of football school, the acquisition of VisionChina Media, the online football platform and the construction of Led, etc. are considered as important pieces to complete the puzzle of Ledman Football Empire. Martin Lee said, "our long-term goal is to make them all spliced together to form a complete interlocking chain, and the center of this chain, locates in Shenzhen.”