Soccer-mad Xi Jinping more blue than red: Was decision to visit Manchester City a deliberate snub to fierce rivals Manchester United?
Was president's decision to visit Manchester City a deliberate snub to club's fierce rivals, United?
Soccer fanatic President Xi Jinping will visit the home ground of the English Premier League club Manchester City on Friday - one of the last stops on his state visit to Britain.
For some fans, this will almost certainly stir up the club's rivalry with its Premier League neighbours Manchester United, even if United are being diplomatic about it.
"The president expressed a desire to see a regeneration project and the visit to Manchester City's site fitted that bill," said Phil Townsend, United's director of communications.
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He said City's stadium was the venue for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, before the site's recent development.
"Manchester United, however, has an estimated 108 million followers in China and would be honoured to host the president in a future visit to Manchester."
There has been intense speculation since Xi's decision to visit City's stadium as part of his official schedule was revealed.
On Monday, Chinese media started circulating an article from Britain's tabloid, which suggested that Manchester Council's leader Sir Richard Leese - a City fan - had lobbied the British government to make the arrangement.
However, when contacted by Guangzhou-based newspaper a council spokesman dismissed the story as groundless speculation; it said Xi's schedule visit was arranged by Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Buckingham Palace, and had been agreed by Chinese government representatives.
Guesswork aside, Xi's decision certainly has some national pride attached; on the day of his arrival in Manchester, Chinese footballer Sun Jihai would be inducted into the English football's Hall of Fame, Xinhua reported. Sun, 38, better known as "China Sun", was City's first Chinese player between 2002 to 2008.
The president expressed a desire to see a regeneration project and the visit to Manchester City's site fitted that bill
He was also the first Chinese player to score a goal in a Premier League match. In September, he was appointed the club's China Ambassador to help strengthen its ties with Chinese businesses.
Xi also made clear his soccer dream in a recent interview with Reuters. "My greatest expectation for Chinese football is for the team to be one of the best in the world and for football to play an important role in making people stronger in body and mind."
For some of United's Chinese fans, news that Xi will not visit the club's Old Trafford ground is a disappointment. On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, one netizen wrote sarcastically: "Oh my god, Britain also has bad tour guides [of football stadiums]. This is the difference between group travel and solo travel."
