Real Madrid, currently on a two-city tour of China that includes matches against current Chinese Super League leaders Guangzhou Evergrande FC and Tianjin Teda FC, managed to fit time in their busy ball-kicking schedule to play an intense exhibition match against 109 local kids on Monday in Guangzhou. The odd number was chosen to celebrate the 109th anniversary of the preferred club of Franco the Fascist, and it looks like Ronaldo, Kaka, Marcelo and co. had their hands full keeping the randy tykes at bay, narrowly edging the kiddies out in a 2-1 victory. more ›

Looks like Arsenal has jumped on the preseason China tour train, alongside Liverpool and Real Madrid, who both announced preseason Asia tours last month. Arsenal announced this week that they will play three games in Asia, the first two in Malaysia and the last in Yiwu, China on July 16. Woohoo! When both Liverpool and Real scheduled games in Guangzhou (and one in Tianjin) we thought the Shanghai area was getting the shaft completely. But Yiwu is only a short train ride away! more ›

Football fans rejoice! This summer brings us not one European giant of a football club, but TWO. Both Liverpool and Real Madrid have announced plans for preseason games in China to cash in onappease their enormous Chinese fan bases. Real Madrid has two games planned, Guangzhou on August 3 and Tianjin on August 6. Liverpool will play three matches across Asia in July, beginning also with Guangzhou, then moving on to Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. more ›

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. more ›

Manchester City become the latest big European club to swing by China, as more fat cat chairmen attempt to stuff a slice of the lucrative East Asian football market pie in their already obese and money-obsessed faces. The English Premier League side take on Shanghai Shenhua on Friday night in the 2006 Shanghai International Football Tournament. more ›

The self-proclaimed "special one", Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho (or Jose Moaninho as he's known to British football fans) was not feeling quite so special last night as Barcelona over-powered his dull Chelsea side in every department. Despite running away with the Premier League this year and last year, Chelsea have faultered in the Champions League, even with the benefit of not-so-squeeky-clean Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich pouring money into the team (440 million pounds -- $765.3 million -- in total since he bought the club in 2003, half of that going to buy new players). 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 ›