BRAZIL is on the other side of the earth. It takes at least 24 hours to fly from China to Brazil. However, a number of Chinese people still go to the distant “Soccer Kingdom” to follow their dreams. Among them are promising soccer players, retired veterans and agents. Though China didn’t make it to this year’s World Cup, there is a link between China and Brazil’s soccer communities.CHINESE

    The promising star

    In October 2012, Chinese player Chen Zhizhao made his debut with the Corinthians, becoming the first Chinese to play in the Brasileirao Serie A. Thanks to that experience, Chen was then recruited for China’s national squad and has now transferred back to Beijing Guoan to play in the Chinese Super League.

    Following Chen, more and more Chinese players have chosen to play for the Brazilian league, despite the huge differences in language, food and culture.

    The FIFA agent

    Brazilian striker Muriqui, who scored a record 13 goals for China’s Guangzhou Evergrande in last year’s AFC Champions League triumph, won the 2013 AFC Foreign Player of the Year Award.

    The successful player went to Guangzhou with help from the Kirin Soccer Agency in Brazil. The company also led the negotiation and transfer of strikers Aloisio Goncalves and Vagner Love to Shandong Luneng.

    The close cooperation between the Brazilian company and China’s soccer clubs is thanks to its founder, Joseph Lee (Li Yuhong in Chinese), a FIFA agent.

    Lee went to Brazil from Hong Kong in the 1980s. Like most Chinese there, he opened a restaurant and fixed cars to support himself. In his spare time, he always played soccer with his colleagues and even participated in the local amateur league.

    Lee’s life changed in 1993, when China’s Jianlibao Youth Team went to Brazil to learn to play soccer. The Youth Team shouldered high hopes of Chinese fans in the 1990s, and after their Brazilian experience, the team produced several national team members for China. The manager of the team, Zhu Guanghu, went on to coach the Chinese national team from 2005 to 2007.

    However, when the team first arrived in Brazil, they encountered huge problems with the language, the food and even with their accommodations. As an enthusiastic soccer fan, Lee selflessly helped the team, from cooking for them to organizing matches.

    Lee kept a close relationship with the Jianlibao Youth Team, and he gradually changed his career focus to soccer by becoming a certificated FIFA agent and founding the Kirin Soccer Agency.

    After the highest tier of professional soccer in China, commonly known as Jia-A, got underway in 1994, numerous Chinese soccer clubs turned to Lee to find them Brazilian players. Lee said that between 1998 and 2005, his company sent 18 to 28 Brazilian players to China every year.

    In recent years, Kirin Soccer has enjoyed rapid growth as it built close relationships with the most reputable Brazilian, European and Asian Clubs. Lee also brokered the transfer of Brazilian midfielder Hernanes to Inter Milan.

    The youth trainer

    Like Jianlibao Youth Team, Yunnan Hongta Soccer of China also sent a youth team to Brazil in 1998. Sun Xianlu was the team’s coach.

    The sound quality of the Brazilian training camp and the dense soccer atmosphere influenced Sun’s decision to stay in Brazil and focus on training Chinese youths.

    Sun established a soccer training camp in Brazil after the team from Yunnan Hongta left. He has been in Brazil for more than 10 years.

    In recent years, the Chinese soccer community is paying more attention to youth training, and more Chinese clubs are seeking cooperation with Brazilian clubs in terms of youth development.

    At the end of last year, Shandong Luneng launched the Youth Development Program together with Brazilian club Sao Paulo.

    (Xinhua)