Olympic soccer (football) preliminary play started yesterday, with the Chinese women's team beating Sweden 2-1 on goals from Xu Yuan and Han Duan. The men's team plays New Zealand tonight in Shenyang, and Shanghai Stadium will host games next week, beginning with men's Group A matches on Sunday. Football is the most loved sport on the globe, but Cameron Wilson writes for China Sports Today that the Olympic tournament has little significance in the eyes......

About a week after sacking men's national team coach Vladimir Petrovic and, more remarkably, three weeks before the Olympics, China removed its men's soccer (football) Olympic head coach Ratomir Dujkovic on Thursday. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has replaced him with Yin Tiesheng, who led the men's under-20 national team in 2004 and has also coached the CFA's Qingdao team. Dujkovic, who is Serbian, has not been fired by the association, according to this Xinhua......

In previous years it was the most eagerly awaited fixture on the Chinese football calendar. Dalian and Shanghai Shenhua, the two pre-eminent footballing powers in the country, have 10 championship titles and seven runners-up honours between them in the 14-year history of the Chinese professional league. The fact that all the runners up spots, and only two of the ten titles belong to Shenhua, made it all the more poingant in their crushing 3-1......

As the Euro Cup moves towards Sunday's championship match, China's own soccer team is watching from the sidelines after being ousted in the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup, hoping for a more succesful performance in August's Olympic matches. The team's disappointing play has led to an outpouring of netizen analysis about how the world's most populous nation is seemingly unable to assemble a solid eleven-man line up. Some of the speculation is informative,......

Direct from SmartShanghai's newly spruced up website comes this piece of bar news: "The British Bulldog ... has completed their renovations and is (soft) open for your drinking needs. Apparently these renovations were quite intense with a new second floor terrace, a new DJ booth, and sports relegated to their third floor with a private viewing room for you and your 'mates.'" SmSh also reports (in The Wire, which you can't link to directly for......

The Brits are trying to pretend it isn't happening, and the Americans didn't realise it was in the first place, but Euro2008 is now fully underway. Time differences are the burden of all Shanghai-based football fans, and as this tournament is being held in Austria and Switzerland, these matches are no exception. During the group stages the games start at either midnight or 2:45 Shanghai time. Quarter Finals are split between 2:45 and 3:45 kick-offs......

Listening to the ever-excellent Football Weekly podcast from Guardian Unlimited the other day, we stumbled across the story of the Tibetan "national" team playing against Padania this week in Milan. If you're thinking "how can Tibet have a national team?" or "what the hell is a Padania?" then you've clearly never heard of the Viva World Cup. Frankly, you probably wouldn't be the only one. The Viva World Cup is a football (or soccer, if......

Shanghai Shenhua won their fourth home game on the trot at Hongkou stadium last night, comfortably sweeping aside Henan Jianye 2-0. (video highlights here) The home side were looking to get back on track after two dissapointing recent results on the road - a 0-0 draw against Qingdao and a last-gasp 2-1 defeat to newly-promoted Chengdu last weekend. However Shenhua were in full control throughout the match and got back into their stride when midfielder......

The random group selections for the Men and Women‘s Olympic Football (AKA soccer) competition were made last night in a blaze of Beijing razzmatazz. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, most of the original entrants to the football have long since been eliminated through a series of qualifying matches and only 16 teams remain. Of the few, the proud that will be playing in (amongst other host cities) Shanghai, both Chinese......

An absolute peach of a goal from young midfielder Shen Longyuan was the highlight of yet another entertaining win for Shanghai Shenhua at Hongkou Stadium last night. The Chinese Olympic squad member picked up a loose clearance right at the corner of the penalty box and lashed the ball into the opposite top hand corner of the net to put his side 2-0 up after 47 minutes and send the home fans wild. Earlier, Hamilton......

After referring to out-of-date information on the club website, Shanghaiist thought Shanghai Shenhua's next home match was next Wednesday. It is fact tonight, against Changsha Ginde at Hongkou Stadium. This makes it three home games within the space of 11 days for Shenhua, who will be hoping to add to their two fine victories against Shenzhen and Tianjin, respectively. The match kicks off at 7.45pm, check the public calendar entry on upcoming for all the......

Last year's Shenhua v Tianjin fixture was one of the best games of football Shanghaiist had seen for years (youtube highlights) and once again the teams did not dissapoint when they met again last night. All manner of entertainment was on offer during Shenhua's 2-1 victory, not least of which an amusing incident in which a fan invaded the pitch, seemingly to lecture Hamilton Ricard on his finishing. Confusion reigned as the middle-aged looking man......

Following their solid opening-day win over Shenzhen last week, (video highlights here) Shanghai Shenhua welcome Tianjin to Hongkou Football Stadium tonight for their second fixture of the 2008 CSL season. The start of the football season in China has seen the usual very modest flurry of stories across the English-language media, Goal.com has an interview with Shenhua coach Wu Jinggui by John Duerden, who also wrote a similar piece for The Guardian after attending last......

Fluent passing, solid defending and a winning performance were the unexpected hallmarks of Shanghai Shenhua's 2-0 victory over Shenzhen in their first CSL fixture of the season at Hong Kou stadium last night. Shenhua normally make somewhat sluggish starts to their championship campaigns but if last night's showing was anything to go by, 2008 might just be their year. Most impressive of all were the performances of new foreign signings Erick Scott and Emil Martinez.......

After a forgettable 2007 exiled in Pudong, Shanghai Shenhua return to their beloved Hongkou Football Stadium to kick off their 2008 Chinese Super League season against Shenzhen Shangqingyin tomorrow. The two-time domestic champions of China spent an unhappy year at the unatmospheric athletics sports facility on the other side of town whilst their home was refurbished, somewhat needlessly for the women's world cup. A corresponding fall in attendances, a troublesome merger, a first-ever defeat at......

It's the best that we have, though we have to admit this video doesn't do justice to the incredible spectacle that was made up of North and South Korean fan contingents at Hongkou Stadium for the two Koreas World Cup qualifier play-off on Wednesday. The action on the stands was just as, if not more, amazing to watch as the action on the field. Here are other vids we found on Youtube:......

DPRK 0-0 ROK; China 0-0 Australia; 26th March, 2008 A large crowd created a fantastic atmosphere at Hongkou Stadium last night but neither team were able to reward the great support with a goal, as North Korea battled to a 0-0 draw with South Korea. A game of few clear cut chances was largely controlled by South Korea, particularly in the first half, as DPRK fielded a defensive side with striker Jong Tae-se playing......

Ok, we know that China are taking on Australia in a crucial World Cup qualifier this afternoon at 2pm, but that's all the way down in Kunming and, frankly, we're not too optimistic about China's chances in this latest 'Group of Death' match. Therefore, match of the day has to be this evening's fixture at Hongkou Stadium where North Korea will take on South Korea (kick-off is 7pm). For those of you at the back......

Like all football connoisseurs, Shanghaiist loves nothing better than a good derby. Games like Feyenoord v Ajax where travelling supporters are banned. The sheer evil of Rangers v Celtic. The Latin heat of Real Madrid v Athletic Madrid. The Manchester United v Liverpool grudge match. The Superclásico of Boca Juniors v River Plate. And Shanghai Shenhua v Inter Shanghai lacked the history but not passion before one half upped sticks and moved to Xi'an. But......

Photo by Brad Westphal Shanghai East Asia Hong Kong United 0 – 3 LA Galaxy Two late goals from Ecuadorian striker Carlos Ruiz gave a final scoreline that not only overstated the quality and excitement of this game, but also flattered a lack-lustre LA Galaxy side at the largely empty 80,000 Shanghai Stadium. East Asia had reduced Major League Soccer's Galaxy to few chances on goal and had even looked the more threatening side......

Tonight will see the massive Shanghai Stadium host a sporting event for seemingly the first time in ages. More akin in recent times to holding pop concerts and ceremonies, the 80,000 all-seater arena will be the venue for an exhibition match between American MLS Soccerball team LA Galaxy and China Division One side East Asia (kick-off 7:30pm). The match is part of the Galaxy’s pre-season tour of East Asia and will also serve as a......

David Beckham was swarmed by fans and journalists when he arrived yesterday at the Pudong airport with the LA Galaxy on the second stop of their three-part Asian tour. The team has just arrived from Seoul, where they were defeated by FC Seoul despite Beckham's stellar performance. The team faces off China All-Star Union at the Shanghai Stadium this Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 pm. For those of you hoping to catch some Beckham-mania, rumours......

As China's inflation soars, world fears knock-on effects [AFP] "As China's factory floors feel the pressure from spiralling costs, there is growing nervousness in the rest of the world that the Asian giant's next big export could be inflation."China Could Give Classical Music a Boost [AP] "Facing dwindling popularity in the West, classical music could receive a boost from a large Chinese population increasingly interested in other cultures, the music director of the New York......

UPDATE: We're actually having some trouble getting these videos to play here on our Shanghai ADSL connection. Anyone (in China) having any luck? OK, it works when we have our VPN turned on. Try that or maybe a proxy. Happy Super Bowl ... Monday, everyone. We hope you are well into your third beer and/or breakfast burrito when reading this. We have a confession to make. We haven't seen a Super Bowl commercial for......

There has been plenty of criticism leveled at the Shanghai subway system, both on Shanghaiist and elsewhere, for things that could be better about it: it closes too early, the interchanges take too long, it's too crowded and too hot/cold, it doesn't reach XXX place, etc. If you fancy yourself on optimistic person, though, you know that one way to change the negatives into positives is to change your complaints into things you're looking forward......

Heres' a public service announcement to (illegal) satellite TV users from Shanghaiist: Don't put stuff on top of your satellite receiver box. We had gotten in the habit of placing the occasional DVD or DVD sleeve on top of our satellite box, which is covered by a bunch of small vents. Not long ago, while working at our computer (surprise, surprise) at around 1 am, we heard a popping noise coming from near the TV......

Forgive us, but we enjoy watching a game of American football every now and then (yes, even after that ugly display in London). Last year, we got in the habit of watching the NFL's Sunday and Monday night games on Monday and Tuesday morning here in Shanghai while we answered emails, fed the dogs and did other important things (we watched on ESPN Asia via our Filipino satellite system). Right now, for example, we'd be......

Everyone's having their own little calendar these days it seems. Second Chance Animal Aid recently came up with one, and this time, it's the boys from The Shanghai Rugby Football Club and Shanghai Hairy Crabs, and they've shed their clothes for a good cause! Shanghaiist caught a sneak preview of some of the pics, and connoisseur of men that we are — we're telling you these boys will give Dieux du Stade a good run......

SEE UPDATES BELOW And no, that is not the name of some rock band! If you woke up today wondering where everyone in your neighbourhood has gone, pack up all your belongings RIGHT NOW and leave. From the AP, via TIME: China's commercial center of Shanghai was evacuating 200,000 people on Tuesday ahead of the expected arrival of Typhoon Wipha, potentially the most destructive storm to hit the city in a decade, local media reported.......

Indian Ocean / Malacca Straits - Five-power naval exercise gives China the jitters [New Zealand Herald] Are the warships from the United States, India, Japan, Australia and Singapore that are exercising together this week off the east coast of India harbingers of a new military alliance in Asia to contain China? Singapore - Pair of seats on inaugural A380 flight go for $100,000 [USA Today] Singapore Airlines, the first carrier in the world to fly......