Manchester City cult hero now worth £20million after unexpected career change
History-making Chinese footballer Sun Jihai, who spent six years at Manchester City, has enjoyed great success in the world of business since hanging up his boots
A Manchester City cult hero is now worth a staggering £20million following a surprise career change. Sun Jihai made history several times during his six-year City career after becoming the first player from China to grace the Premier League.
Jihai joined City, then managed by Kevin Keegan and on course to win promotion from the second tier, in February 2002. Later that year, he became the first East Asian player to score in the English top flight in a 2-0 win at Birmingham City.
He became a firm favourite among fans due to his tireless work-rate, making 151 appearances for City before leaving in the summer of 2008 as the club was taken over by Sheikh Mansour. His last game in City colours was the infamous 8-1 defeat at Middlesbrough at the end of the 2007/08 campaign.
A brief spell at Sheffield United followed before he returned to his homeland in 2009, playing for several clubs and hanging up his boots in 2016. He elected not to pursue the tried-and-tested route of coaching and potentially management.
Instead, Jihai became a successful businessman, co-founding HaiQui [HQ] Sports, a sports data company, which set out to provide 'datatainment' to fans. The tech company's other projects included a talk show that Jihai appeared on, a sports app called MiaoHi and a match prediction tool called Jihai App.
Jihai made a great success of the venture, with numerous blue-chip companies investing in the company, including China Media Capital [CMC], which bought a 13% stake in City in 2015.
CMC, worth an estimated £60billion, got involved after being impressed by the MiaoHi app, a short-video sports platform that connects celebrities and fans. That investment, coupled with growing interest in his products, has seen Jihai's personal wealth soar to more than £20m, according to PeopleWorthWiki.
Despite his personal success story post-football, Jihai looks back on his spell with City fondly. Speaking to former team-mates Nedum Onuoha and Paul Dickov for City's website last year, he said his historic goal at Birmingham still gives him 'goosebumps.'
'Before I came to City, I didn't know the club. I only knew about United,' admitted Jihai, who spent the 1998/99 season at Crystal Palace, then of the second tier.
'City were in the second division, now the Championship. The agent told me we will go to the Premier League very soon. There were only two months of the season left. I was thinking, 'OK, second division, no problem, I'll join then.'
'I spent a season at Crystal Palace and I was always thinking I would like to go back to England. The Premier League, that was the league I wanted to play in.'
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