103: Fangzhou Dong, Manchester United, Panini Manchester United 2007/2008 Season Official Sticker Collection

Mat Jolin-Beech once again sets his sights on Asia albeit without an enviable travelogue attached with a look at a former Manchester United striker you may not have even realised was there. He raises some interesting questions, especially in light of the rise and relative fall of the Chinese Super League, but perhaps overlooks the fact that, as a result of signing Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai, Crystal Palace were briefly the most watched football club in the world in the 1998/99 season. Didn’t stop us being monumentally shite mind. Over to Mat.

Workplace lunchtime conversations are an odd thing. They can often be dull, focussing on work stuff, the weather, or at certain times of the year, what everyone’s plans for Christmas are going to be. Seeing family? Going away? Rinse and repeat.

If you’re lucky, however, they can take more interesting paths. Somehow, and I genuinely can’t remember how it got onto this, the fact that China had athlete factories ahead of the Beijing 2008 Olympics cropped up. And now, over the following sixteen years, the production line and success of Chinese athletes has started to slow up. I don’t know if this is accurate or not (please comment if you know more) but it got me thinking that, outside of the Olympic sports, the likes of diving, table tennis, gymnastics, why do we not we see many Chinese sportspeople? Can you name many? I can’t. The only one that came to mind was Dong Fangzhou.


The Chinese striker was once, to mild fanfare, signed by Sir Alex Ferguson. Granted this was during his slightly weird signing phase that also included the likes of Mads Timm, Luke Steele, and Paul Tierney. There was hope as Dong was the first East Asian player to sign for Manchester United. The fee was an initial £500,000 with another £3m of add ons.  He was loaned out to Royal Antwerp immediately, partly to gain experience in Europe, but also because he couldn’t play in England due to a lack of a work permit. Three years later, and rejecting Belgian citizenship, he finally got his work visa and added to the United squad in 2007 and he finally made his debut in a charity match against a European XI coming on for Alan Smith.

A handful of appearances followed, including a Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge, and a Champions League debut versus Roma, replacing one Wayne Rooney. By August 2008, his number 21 shirt was then given to Rafael and his contract terminated. A return to China, back with Dalian Shide, followed, but the poor form continues and led to a relegation to the reserves. However, a return to Europe did arrive after a training camp with Legia Warsaw and an eighteen month contract was offered. But more struggles followed, as did stints with Portuguese club Portimonese, Armenian premier league side Mila, and a return to China, again, but this time to Hunan Bilows. He finished up his career at second tier Chinese side Hebei Zhongji.

A career that had a lot of promise seemed to peter out, and the Chinese sports fans left wanting for another Western mainstream sports hero. Why? There is a lot more to go into there than we have the space for here. I’m sure a dissertation or two may begin to scratch the surface. But, workplace conversations over a left over mac ’n’ cheese did get me thinking a bit about it. Or it did, up until I was asked what I’m doing for Christmas.

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