HAO HAIDONG, dubbed 'the grandfather' of Chinese soccer, has scored more goals for China - 38 so far - than any other player. So untouchable is the 34-year-old national player and forward for club side Dalian Shide (pronounced Shir-dir) that 'Chairman Hao', as some call him, can turn up late for training - and get away with it.
That's hardly surprising. These days, Hao's mind increasingly is on other things - such as Hao Haidong Clothing, his sportswear line, launched in Beijing this month and due in shops in the winter. The range will include shorts and shirts and even a few suits, but no shoes. They're produced by Hao's other company, Dalian Yanhai Group, a diversified business that's also involved in real estate and computer manufacturing, and reportedly has assets worth 300 million yuan.
Although Hao may be best known as a footballer, his flair for business began early. In the late 1980s, travelling the country with his team, Hao would buy cigarettes cheaply in southern coastal provinces and sell them at a profit inland. Later, he invested in Dalian Yanhai, set up by a friend. He recently took his stake in the company to 51 per cent.
Hao says it's easy being a footballer-businessman. 'Doing business is a matter of mind, while playing football is a matter of the body. They're not contradictory,' he says during the launch of his clothing line at a plush Beijing hotel.
Despite his business success and being of an age at which many players hang up their boots, Hao says he wants to keep playing 'for at least two more years', and seems determined to represent China at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. But he acknowledges his age is becoming an issue. 'I'm often asked about my retirement. Maybe people think I'm too old to play well. But if the national team needs me, I'll try my best to help them qualify for the World Cup.' He pauses. 'I don't mind being called 'grandfather'.'
Hao was born in Qingdao, Shandong province, in 1970. His father was football-mad, and little Hao began kicking a ball around when he was three years old. A classic product of China's tough sports training system that deprived promising child athletes of a classical education in favour of rigorous training, Hao was taken out of primary school when he was 10. He was selected for the People's Liberation Army's Bayi team - mostly because he was a fast sprinter, Hao says. In the army, he gained the equivalent status of a lieutenant-colonel.