From Manchester United to Messi, everyone’s playing the same money game in China – but who’s winning?
Manchester United kicked off the race to rake in the Chinese cash and now all of European football’s heavyweight clubs are trying to muscle their way in
It’s coming up on 11 years since Dong Fangzhou became the first Chinese player to play for Manchester United. The striker started his only competitive appearance for the club at Stamford Bridge in May 2007, a game more memorable for the newly-crowned champions’ reserve team being clapped onto the pitch by a guard of honour led by John Terry. Months later the club were in China with Dong in tow on a four game Asian tour that took in Macau and Guangzhou after Japan and South Korea. It was on the mainland stop that manager Alex Ferguson told That’s Guangzhou that “China and the US will be challenging for World Cup finals by 2018”.
Ferguson got that wrong – neither nation will be in Russia this summer – just as he got the Dong signing wrong, but his and the club’s presence in China was a stronger augur of the future.
While English Premier League clubs have since stopped signing as many Chinese players, they have continued to make a beeline for China and its cash.
Manchester United also recently signed a deal with Ping An Bank for branded financial services, starting with a club branded credit card.