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A red letter day for Red Devil fans
By Nie Xin |
June 9, 2009, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Manchester United, one of the world's greatest football clubs, will be playing a game in Hangzhou soon. But the historic city will be experiencing more than just sport on July 26. Nie Xin kicks things around.
July 26 will be a red letter day for all Chinese football fans. That night, one of the world's most famous football teams, the Manchester United Football Club, will play a friendly game with the Hangzhou Greentown Football Club at the Huanglong Stadium in Hangzhou.
Chinese fans will not in reality expect Hangzhou Greentown FC to win. But it will be a marvelous chance for them to watch live football delivered by the world's top club, which has been valued at over US$1.87 billion according to a report in "Forbes" this April.
Hangzhou will be the only stop in China in the 2009 Asia tour for Manchester United. In the less-than-48-hour visit, what will be brought to the city will be far more than just a fantastic football game.
Manchester United will be the most famous club to have ever visited Hangzhou. "We have already received requests for interviews from a lot of oversea media. It will be a great chance to promote Hangzhou to the world," Wang Zhihai, deputy director of the Zhejiang Province Football Association, tells Du Shi Kuai Bao, a Hangzhou newspaper.
In fact Manchester United has started to promote Hangzhou. On the homepage of its official Website, details of the Hangzhou tour are published. As well 12 tickets to a training session and 12 tickets to the game are being offered as prizes for their fans.
"Before the Manchester United game, Hangzhou staged the FIFA Women's World Cup and the qualification for the AFC Asian Cup. I am quite confident that Hangzhou will have even more opportunities to stage major international sport events in the future," says Wang.
Since the season for the China Premier League began, each game with Greentown as home team has usually attracted about 15,000 spectators. Pop music concerts usually draw crowds of more than 20,000 each.
For this event the organizer says there are more than 20,000 tickets sold or reserved internationally. "I guess there will be more than 40,000 fans coming to the stadium that day," says Wang.
It's definitely good news for the commercial circle at the Huanglong Stadium. The crowds will bring good business.
There is a Chinese fast food restaurant in the commercial circle at the stadium. Every time there is a football game, the daily turnover increases by about 10 percent. Sometimes it rises 20 percent if famous singers are performing.
The crowds will not just bring a high turnover to restaurants, but will boost Hangzhou's entire tourist market. Manchester United's Hangzhou game will attract fans from home and abroad to this fabled city.
Hong Mo (Red Devil), the Chinese fan club of Manchester United, is now the biggest unofficial fan organization of Manchester United in the Chinese mainland. There are more than 80,000 fans registered.
Shen Zhongnan is the deputy director of the Hangzhou branch of the fan club and he is extremely busy these days.
"Over 300 members of our fan club have already applied to watch the game, and there will be another 300 as the second batch. Half of them are from Hangzhou and Shanghai, and the other half are from the other parts of China," says Shen. Shen is now busy arranging accommodation for fans from other cities.
As well as the Hong Mo fan club, members from many smaller Manchester United fan clubs in Xi'an of Shaanxi Province, Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen of Guangdong Province are also collecting proposals for the Hangzhou trip. The game will also attract a good many overseas fans to Hangzhou.
"As the game will be on Sunday, many fans are planning to arrive at Hangzhou on Friday and spend two days here," says Shen.
Some local businessmen are excited about Manchester United coming - and not just because of their football skills.
Ying Xiaowen is the general manager of a Hangzhou textile company Mo Shang Hua. The company makes scarves for fans of Europe's leading football teams, and Manchester United is one of their clients.
"This will be a good commercial opportunity for me," says Ying.
Ying is now contacting the organizer of the game to see if her company can be official manufacturer for the fans for the game.
As one of the world's most popular clubs, Manchester United has more than 300 million fans around the world including 150,000 registered international fans. Last season, the club earned more than US$160 million in the UK, mostly from products for fans.
"Much of the fan products for the European football clubs are made in China, and there are many manufacturers in Zhejiang Province. We have fierce competition," says Ying. "I hope I will get a chance to contact staff from United and find more ways of working with them in the future."
Date: July 26, 8pm
Venue: Hualong Stadium, 3 Huanglong Rd
Tickets: 100-1,600 yuan
Tel: (0571) 8715-3999, 400-887-6887
Mandarin-speaking fans can get more information online viawww.sjfc.net
July 26 will be a red letter day for all Chinese football fans. That night, one of the world's most famous football teams, the Manchester United Football Club, will play a friendly game with the Hangzhou Greentown Football Club at the Huanglong Stadium in Hangzhou.
Chinese fans will not in reality expect Hangzhou Greentown FC to win. But it will be a marvelous chance for them to watch live football delivered by the world's top club, which has been valued at over US$1.87 billion according to a report in "Forbes" this April.
Hangzhou will be the only stop in China in the 2009 Asia tour for Manchester United. In the less-than-48-hour visit, what will be brought to the city will be far more than just a fantastic football game.
Manchester United will be the most famous club to have ever visited Hangzhou. "We have already received requests for interviews from a lot of oversea media. It will be a great chance to promote Hangzhou to the world," Wang Zhihai, deputy director of the Zhejiang Province Football Association, tells Du Shi Kuai Bao, a Hangzhou newspaper.
In fact Manchester United has started to promote Hangzhou. On the homepage of its official Website, details of the Hangzhou tour are published. As well 12 tickets to a training session and 12 tickets to the game are being offered as prizes for their fans.
"Before the Manchester United game, Hangzhou staged the FIFA Women's World Cup and the qualification for the AFC Asian Cup. I am quite confident that Hangzhou will have even more opportunities to stage major international sport events in the future," says Wang.
Since the season for the China Premier League began, each game with Greentown as home team has usually attracted about 15,000 spectators. Pop music concerts usually draw crowds of more than 20,000 each.
For this event the organizer says there are more than 20,000 tickets sold or reserved internationally. "I guess there will be more than 40,000 fans coming to the stadium that day," says Wang.
It's definitely good news for the commercial circle at the Huanglong Stadium. The crowds will bring good business.
There is a Chinese fast food restaurant in the commercial circle at the stadium. Every time there is a football game, the daily turnover increases by about 10 percent. Sometimes it rises 20 percent if famous singers are performing.
The crowds will not just bring a high turnover to restaurants, but will boost Hangzhou's entire tourist market. Manchester United's Hangzhou game will attract fans from home and abroad to this fabled city.
Hong Mo (Red Devil), the Chinese fan club of Manchester United, is now the biggest unofficial fan organization of Manchester United in the Chinese mainland. There are more than 80,000 fans registered.
Shen Zhongnan is the deputy director of the Hangzhou branch of the fan club and he is extremely busy these days.
"Over 300 members of our fan club have already applied to watch the game, and there will be another 300 as the second batch. Half of them are from Hangzhou and Shanghai, and the other half are from the other parts of China," says Shen. Shen is now busy arranging accommodation for fans from other cities.
As well as the Hong Mo fan club, members from many smaller Manchester United fan clubs in Xi'an of Shaanxi Province, Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen of Guangdong Province are also collecting proposals for the Hangzhou trip. The game will also attract a good many overseas fans to Hangzhou.
"As the game will be on Sunday, many fans are planning to arrive at Hangzhou on Friday and spend two days here," says Shen.
Some local businessmen are excited about Manchester United coming - and not just because of their football skills.
Ying Xiaowen is the general manager of a Hangzhou textile company Mo Shang Hua. The company makes scarves for fans of Europe's leading football teams, and Manchester United is one of their clients.
"This will be a good commercial opportunity for me," says Ying.
Ying is now contacting the organizer of the game to see if her company can be official manufacturer for the fans for the game.
As one of the world's most popular clubs, Manchester United has more than 300 million fans around the world including 150,000 registered international fans. Last season, the club earned more than US$160 million in the UK, mostly from products for fans.
"Much of the fan products for the European football clubs are made in China, and there are many manufacturers in Zhejiang Province. We have fierce competition," says Ying. "I hope I will get a chance to contact staff from United and find more ways of working with them in the future."
Date: July 26, 8pm
Venue: Hualong Stadium, 3 Huanglong Rd
Tickets: 100-1,600 yuan
Tel: (0571) 8715-3999, 400-887-6887
Mandarin-speaking fans can get more information online viawww.sjfc.net
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