How Manchester City’s Sun Jihai changed China’s relationship with English football
- Versatile defender is first and so far only Chinese player inducted to National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame
- Cult hero was appointed club ambassador after 123-game English Premier League career with Manchester City
On March 3, 2002, Manchester City hosted Coventry City at Maine Road in the English First Division.
The home team, gunning for promotion back to the English Premier League under manager Kevin Keegan, won 4-2 thanks to goals from Darren Huckerby, Danny Tiatto and two from Shaun Wright-Phillips.
That Sunday afternoon will be remembered more for the debut of Sun Jihai, who came off the bench for player-coach Stuart Pearce to play 14 minutes so inconsequential that it did not even warrant a mention in the BBC match report.
Little did anyone know that Sun would come to be the player that exemplified English football’s relationship with China.
This was not the China international’s first taste of English football. He had played in the same division with Crystal Palace after signing with national teammate Fan Zhiyi in the summer of 1998.
The pair arrived in South London after being recommended by coach Ted Buxton, who was consulting the China national team. Fan had actually been spotted by Terry Venables two summers earlier when his England side made their ill-fated tour of Hong Kong and China ahead of Euro 96, although Sun only made his China debut that December.