China is flexing its financial muscle and is not only attracting the best African footballers, but also the world’s greatest football clubs to its shores.

Didier Drogba made his debut in China recently against English giants Manchester United, after his multi-million-dollar move from Chelsea to Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua.

United, named by Forbes magazine as the most valuable sporting franchise in the world at more than US$1 billion, have always considered China as a huge market and have played in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau.

With more than one billion people and an economy that has been - and still is - on the march, China provides both a huge fan base and potential sponsorship partners for the world’s biggest football clubs.

Oddly, United’s biggest sponsors are American companies – Nike (US$30 million) and Aon (US$27m) a year.

Manchester City, the mega-rich English champions who have undergone a rapid transformation thanks to funding from the United Arab Emirates in the past two years, are also looking to China.

German giants Bayern Munich were in China in July for the third time in 12 years after similar tours in 2000 and 2007.

Another German side, Wolfsburg, made their maiden tour of China.

They won’t be the only first-timers as Spanish La Liga club Real Betis are also making their maiden trip to China where they will be joined by Villarreal.

"This is a very important step forward for us, not just from an economic point of view, but also from a question of marketing and communication and in getting our name known in Asia," Betis President, Miguel Guillen, told the club’s official website.

"Our project in Asia is medium- to long-term and Betis is opening up to Asia with a sporting, economic and educational project.

“This is much more than going to play a friendly game. Both the governor and the organiser have received Real Betis with maximum honour.”

Drogba is the player with the biggest profile in the Chinese Super League and it appears his decision to move to that part of the world has inspired a cast of African players to follow suit.

Nigeria international striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has signed a three-year deal with Guangzhou R&F, Malian midfielder Seydou Keita left Barcelona for a two-and-a-half-year deal with Dalian Aerbin.

Another Malian international, striker Frederic Kanoute, has also left La Liga’s Sevilla to sign a two-year deal with Beijing Guoan.

Drogba gets about US$350 000 a week, Yakubu receives about US$150 000 while Keita will get around US$180 000 a week during their Chinese adventure.

More African players are expected to cross the oceans to China and the agents of former Zimbabwe captain, Benjani Mwaruwari, have been angling a deal for him to finish his career in the Asian giant.

Former Bafana Bafana captain, Aaron Mokoena, revealed recently, “I had offers from Qatar and China but I wanted to come home to plough a bit back.

“Sundowns, Chiefs, Pirates – if you want to talk money, they do have it. But the development structures and vision at Wits impressed me.”

China’s rich elite have been investing their money in football and Guangzhou Evergrande are owned by businessman Xu Jiayin, the chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group.

He is widely considered the richest man in China.

Evergrande have so much money they were able to hire Italian World Cup-winning coach, Marcelo Lippi, to take charge of the team.

Critics of the Great Trek to China claim that the players who are going there are only doing it for the money and that most of them are on the “wrong” side of 30 appears to buttress this argument.

Chinese football has been hard-hit by a series of damaging scandals, leading to a number of high-profile arrests and convictions.

This has arguably affected spectator interest in the brand.

But Africa’s stars still feel it is worth the adventure and Yakubu, who top-scored for Blackburn Rovers in a failed bid to avoid relegation from the English Premiership last season, says he is not in China for the money.

"After hearing the club's plans, I realised I had to join. Money wasn't a factor," Yakubu told BBC Sport.

"Since Anelka arrived (at Shanghai Shenhua), more and more top-flight players are coming to China, and our arrival can help improve the quality of the nation's football."

It’s not only the top-flight league and their clubs who are moving in the right direction in China.

Even the Chinese Football Federation, for all the challenges it has faced with corruption, is cleaning its house and finally attracting substantial sponsorship.

They have already tied a deal with the Dalian Wanda Group that will provide funds for youth development and improving other facets of the game.

“Taking a stance against bribery and corruption in the sport is good and pushing through reform is certainly what is needed to improve the domestic game and hopefully bring more fans out to the stadiums during the Chinese Super League season,” the China Sports Review noted.

“However, if the CFA and CSL want bring true professionalism into the game in China, it is vital that reforms go much further.

“First, professionalism has to start within the league system itself. Since its inception in 2004, the CSL has gone through its ups and downs like any fledgling professional sports league.

“However, problems ranging from match-fixing and mismanagement have deterred investors and sponsors from making a long-term commitment to the league.

“Hopefully, the CFA’s move to allow the CSL to handle the day-to-day operations of the league will come through without any significant interference and the right people are brought in to make the league more of a corporate entity that will not only increase the level of play, it will also boost fans’ interest to head out to the stadiums.”