MELBOURNE, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian football's premier code, the Australian Football League (AFL) has announced that a match for competition points will be played next year in China for the first time.
The game, which will take place at 1:20 pm local time on May 14 at Shanghai's Jiangwan Sports Center, will be just the fourth time a regular season AFL game has been played outside Australia, with New Zealand hosting three games from 2013 to 2015.
The Port Adelaide Football Club, commonly known as the 'Power', will play host to the Gold Coast Suns in the game which reaffirms Port Adelaide's commitment to China, having broadcast a number of their games on China Central Television (CCTV) in 2016.
David Koch, chairman of Port Adelaide, said China represented the AFL's best opportunity to grow internationally.
"This is a moment many people thought would never happen, let alone as soon as 2017," Koch said at a press conference in Melbourne on Wednesday.
"The AFL will become the first foreign competition to play a regular season game for points in China, beating the likes of the National Basketball Association, English Premier League, Major League Baseball and NFL.
"That is a monumental achievement in itself and speaks volumes of the strength of the relationship between our two nations."
Tony Cochrane, chairman of the Suns, said he believed the game would enhance the strong relationship between the Gold Coast and China.
"China is the No. 1 international tourism market for the city of the Gold Coast, and increasingly both China and the Gold Coast enjoy a strong tourism and business relationship," Cochrane said.
"We believe we have the most exciting and athletic game in the world, and the chance to showcase our game in China is too good an opportunity to pass up."
The Melbourne Demons and Brisbane Lions played a pre-season friendly game at the Jiangwan Sport Center in 2010 with 7,100 people attending the game.
