Everton help forge links with Shanghai - even it means wearing red shorts

Jan 21 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYSIDE’S footballing prowess is helping to kick-start Chinese business investment in the region.

Everton signed a year-long agreement to form a grassroots disabled football programme in Shanghai yesterday .

And the winner of Chinese reality TV show Soccer Prince – Jin Wui, who wins a coveted 12-month Everton apprenticeship – was awarded his Blues shirt by trade and investment minister Lord Digby Jones on Saturday.

The strengthening of Everton’s links in China comes after Liverpool formally invited Shanghai’s communist party secretary and mayor to visit the city this summer.

The Liverpool Shanghai Partnership, a public-private sector body established in 2006 to encourage Chinese business in Merseyside, linked Everton In The Community, the club’s charitable trust, with the Shanghai Disabled Persons Federation.

Yesterday’s deal was sealed after Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the Federation during his Chinese tour.

The £60,000-a-year project, sponsored by B&Q and Tesco, could run for three years and will develop a grassroots disability football development programme in Shanghai, one of China’s finance capitals.

Dr Kerry Brown, chief operating officer of the Liverpool Shanghai Partnership, hopes Shanghai businesses will set up in Merseyside.

An expert in Chinese-Western relations, Dr Brown said: “Football is a big part of the Liverpool brand.

“These are the big advantages that Liverpool has got.

“It’s a great thing for Everton to have a foothold in the Chinese market – it’s also a most significant thing for Liverpool.”

The programme will focus on cerebral palsy, supporting deaf and blind teams and developing teachers and coaches into qualified staff with recognised UK disabled football coaching qualifications.

TV show Soccer Prince gave young Chinese footballers the opportunity to compete for a place at Everton, Nottingham Forest or Bolton Wanderers, and study English for a year.

Lord Jones said: “British creativity in broadcasting is helping to harness the universal language of football and build stronger links between the UK and China.

“But more importantly it is helping to build bridges between the youth of our two nations.”

Shanghai and Liverpool have been twinned since 1999.

Dr Brown said inviting Shanghai’s mayor Han Zheng and party secretary Yu Zhengsheng was crucial to securing investment on Merseyside.

Dr Brown says an ideal time for the leaders to visit would be in the summer to see Paul McCartney play Anfield stadium.

benschofield@dailypost.co.uk