Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    SHENZHEN is home to not only the official soccer balls of the World Cup in Brazil, but also large LED screens around game venues and aerobridges at the airport in Sao Paulo.

    A Singapore-listed company, Shenzhen Aoto Electronics, produced the LED screens used by advertisers surrounding the game venues. Aoto previously supplied LED screens to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Chile in 2008 and the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa in 2009.

    Another local enterprise, CIMC Airport Facilities, is the producer of 28 aerobridges at the airport in Sao Paulo, which was expanded for the game.

    While Chinese-language newspapers in Shenzhen published articles with a proud tone about “Shenzhen elements” in the game, soccer fans enjoyed the game in their own way.

    Shenzhen University (SZU) has installed a 70-sqm LED screen in a hall with 1,983 seats. SZU has been dubbed “the World Cup University in Shenzhen” on the Internet.

    Despite bars being favored by some soccer fans, American Alec Rosenman chose to watch live on his computer and in the cafeteria of the school where he works.

    Rosenman is manager of international admissions of the business school of Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University in Nanshan District.

    “I always watch live, never recorded. The matches come on so late and are so exciting that I don’t feel sleepy watching them at the time, but the next morning I am very tired,” said Rosenman, who has been living in Shenzhen for three months.

    A fan of the U.S. team, Rosenman said he is most excited about the match between Germany and the United States, which is scheduled to happen at midnight June 27.

    “Germany has a better chance to win the match and the U.S. will be a big underdog,” he said.