Another No. 10 jersey for Xi? Chinese leader to dine at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium with British PM Cameron next week
PUBLISHED : Friday, 16 October, 2015, 6:15pm
UPDATED : Friday, 16 October, 2015, 8:11pm
Matt Hodges
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Xi Jinping showed off some of his schoolboy skills at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, Ireland in 2012 as China's vice-president. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hopes to bring the World Cup to China, has scheduled a dinner date with British Prime Minister David Cameron next Friday at Etihad Stadium, home of English Premier League runners-up Manchester City, British media report.
They are due to eat at the club at the end of the Chinese leader’s official October 20-23 UK swing, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Whether the 62-year-old Communist Party chief will receive a No. 10 football jersey from the cash-rich club remains to be seen. He reportedly already has a dozen or so bearing the classic number of iconic strikers past and present stashed away in his wardrobe.
A bird's-eye view of The Etihad, the home ground of Manchester City. Photo: SCMP Pictures
They come from some of the biggest teams in the world, including the national team of Argentina and club Boca Juniors, but were mostly presented by political or business figures.
Coincidentally, the last state visit by China to the UK also happened 10 years ago, when former president Hu Jintao visited in 2005. It was unclear whether Xi will find time to visit Cameron next week at the prime minister's official residence - at No. 10 Downing Street in London.
Xi is expected to be accompanied by his wife, first lady Peng Liyuan. His trip will also include a lunch with civic leaders at the town hall of the northern English city — Manchester is now awash with Chinese investment in residential and other projects — and an event at Manchester Airport.
Xi has met the Conservative Party leader a number of ties as the UK and China continue to foster closer ties. Photo: SCMP Pictures
But the highlight of his UK swing is expected to be a state banquet at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen.
The Etihad dinner may come as a surprise to some as it feels like a snub of crosstown rival Manchester United, which has a kit seemingly colour-coordinated to fit the Red China theme.
Then again, Xi may not wish to align himself with a club nicknamed "the Red Devils". And there are other reasons why he may prefer the Sky Blues.
Xi met with Prince William in Beijing in March and said he dreams of making China a strong footballing nation. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The club famously recruited Sun Jihai in 2002. Sun went on to become the first Chinese player to score in the EPL and is still considered one of China’s top football exports.
Moreover, in January City announced a “ground-breaking new partnership” with DJI Holdings, one of the leading providers of regulated lottery products in China.
While news of the dinner date at the club was unexpected – Cameron claims to be a fan of Aston Villa while Xi’s club loyalties are unclear – it comes after Xi met with Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge in Beijing in March.
Chinese President Xi Jinping receives the national team's No. 10 jersey from Argentina's Vice President Amado Boudou in July 2014. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Xi told the future British monarch he hopes to transform China, which has only featured in one men’s FIFA World Cup, into a footballing nation and one day host and see China win the quadrennial event. He listed similar ambitions in 2011 before taking up his current post, and football is now a compulsory part of the national curriculum in China.
But in a country where Mao Zedong once said women “hold up half the sky”, its female footballers did more than their fair share in Canada in June by making it to the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup before falling 1-0 to eventual champions the US.
Xi has not been shy about his love of the game and talks with pride about his playing days as a school boy. During a 2002 visit to Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland he was pictured kicking a football around and evidently enjoying himself.
Another honorary No 10 jersey, this time from Bayer Leverkusen during a visit to German pharmaceutical Bayer in October 2009. Photo: QQ.com
But he is unlikely to have time for either City’s Champion’s League group stage tie with Seville on Wednesday, or the club’s league derby with United at Old Trafford the following Sunday – a match few football fans would want to miss.
Meanwhile, Cameron claims to be a 30-year fan of Villa but he still managed to get the team mixed up with EPL rival West Ham ahead of the FA Cup final earlier this year, in what he described as a “profoundly embarrassing” gaffe.
Then vice-president Xi shows he's not fussy about numbers while receiving a Los Angeles Lakers basketball jersey signed by NBA star Kobe Bryant - but presented by 'Magic' Johnson - and an LA Galaxy soccer jersey bearing David Beckham's autograph during an NBA game in LA in February 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]
This led many to question the credibility of his love of the game, or team. Both teams wear the same claret and blue uniform.
Xi will also visit Manchester’s National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester next week, the British paper reported.
