Alibaba Group Holding Ltd established a sports unit on Wednesday, marking the e-commerce giant's official entry into the lucrative sector.[Photo/IC]

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd established a sports unit on Wednesday, marking the e-commerce giant's official entry into the lucrative sector.

The Hangzhou-based company said Alibaba Sports Group, which is under the control of Alibaba Group, is a co-investment with the Internet portal Sina Corp and Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma.

Zhang Dazhong, former vice president of Shanghai Media Group, will head the new sports unit as CEO, and Alibaba CEO Zhang Yong will serve as the chairman.

"Alibaba Sports is aiming to generate new values and upgrade the whole sports industry with our digital ecosystem," said Zhang Yong, highlighting the Internet's role as important infrastructure for economic growth.

In fact, this is not the first time that Alibaba has branched out into the sports sector. Last June, the company spent 1.2 billion yuan for a 50 percent stake in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club which was later rebranded as Guangzhou Evergrand Taobao.

The company's efforts come amid a growing domestic appetite for more and better sports content.

The move is also part of the Internet conglomerate's broad efforts to boost and diversify revenue sources as the company faces slower growth.

Alibaba has already set foot in the entertainment and healthcare industries with two separate units.