Crystal Palace Football Club eyes bigger influence in China

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew holds the club's new kit for 2015/2016 season. [Jiang Shan/China Daily]

"Crystal palace" has long been a famous name in China, partly thanks to the grand steel and glass building that hosted the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, and partly due to that in Chinese mythology, "crystal palace" is where the Dragon King, or the God of Rain, lives.

But it was not until the late 1990s that Crystal Palace, a south London professional football club known as the Eagles, rose to fame in China when two Chinese footballers signed for the then First Division club, becoming the country's pioneers at the home of modern football.

"As a club we are very proud of our links with China. We were the first English club to sign Chinese internationals with the arrivals in 1998 of former club captain Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai," said Phil Alexander, the chief executive of Crystal Palace, in an email to China Daily.

Fan and Sun both spent a successful period in England: Fan played 88 league games for the club and captained the team in some matches during three seasons he spent there, and Sun also played regularly for the team during a one-year loan stint before he helped another First Division team, Manchester City get promoted to the Premier League.

Chinese footballers are not strangers to current Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew. In 2007, whilst manager of London rivals Charlton Athletic, he signed midfielder Zheng Zhi from Chinese Super League (CSL) team Shandong Luneng.

"Zheng Zhi is fantastic player and fantastic person. It's an honor to work with him," said Pardew. "He is good enough to play for this team (Crystal Palace)."

Despite its huge population of football fans, China has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002, and it lags behind Asian neighbors such as Japan and Korea.

Speaking of how China should improve its football level, Pardew and captain Mile Jedinak pointed to the introduction of talented players from other countries.

"One way to improve a country's football level is to bring in talented players and best coaches from around the world, as we are doing in the Premier League," said Pardew.