According to a recent survey conducted on behalf of London’s Birkbeck College, China’s soccer fans are as keen as ever on footie-behemoth Manchester United, with one important factor cited as being the opportunity for fans to see top players performing to the max on the field. “If they go to watch top performers in action, Chinese fans want to see them perform well,” the findings reveal. Well what a disappointment this season’s English premiership competition must have been to them so far. Ten points adrift from leaders Chelsea in the table, sitting ignominiously behind Tottenham Hotspur and minnows Charlton Athletic, and having suffered defeat at the hands of Blackburn, following which manager Sir Alex Ferguson was booed by his own fans, Man U’s sparkling performances have not exactly been coming thick and fast to delight stalwart Chinese fans. But you would be hard-pressed to predict that this love affair will do anything but die hard. Following this summer’s friendly between the English premiership side and Beijing Hyundai, the China Daily noted, “thousands of Chinese fans in the crowd of 24,223 in Beijing's Workers Stadium wore red Manchester United jerseys”. The club has its own Chinese website, www.manunited.com.cn, offering, among other things, an SMS information service for fans requiring up to the minute news on the team. Perhaps more importantly, the club also just signed its first ever Chinese player, Dong Fangzhuo, who debuted in the Beijing Hyundai Game alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. However, it would nonetheless appear that the pre-match hopes of many a Chinese supporter have been borne out in what has been seen of the 2005 Premiership season so far. The survey reveals of Chinese fans attending the Beijing game that “many indicated they were at the game in anticipation of Beijing claiming a shock win”. With the way things are currently going for the northern England team, perhaps not such a vain hope after all … more ›

Shanghai Shenhua crashed out of the China FA cup on Wednesday night despite fighting back from two goals down against their great northern rivals, Beijing Hyundai, eventually losing 3-2 on aggregate. more ›

"Beijing or bust!" That's been the Summer Break 2005 mantra for foreign soccer clubs. Manchester United plays there today. Sheffield United played there last week. And just a few days ago, a Beckham-less Real Madrid squad sloshed its way to a 3-2 win over Beijing Hyundai. Depending on who you read, Beijing's 70,000-seat Workers' Stadium was either less than half full or just barely half full for that match, but everybody reports that Real Madrid didn't win over many fans during its China tour. RMB 600 tickets were being scalped for less than one-third of face value. CCTV threatened a media blackout of the match because Real Madrid refused to sign some kind of "cooperation agreement." And reportedly some Real players failed to show at scheduled promotional events. A no-doubt scientific Sina.com survey showed that 96 percent of respondents said Real Madrid "came to China with the sole goal of making money" and 62 percent said they wouldn't support the team if it returned to China. Twenty-seven percent said Los Galicticos bored them. more ›