On Oct. 12, 2018, Mr. Zheng Xiyuan, Consul General of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Manchester, met with Colin Bridgford, Chief Executive Officer of Manchester Football Association at the Consul General's residence. Also present at the meeting were Counselor Zhao Jiang, Consuls Lyu Xiaomei and Chen Xuefeng.

Consul General Zheng expressed his appreciation of the efforts made by the Association to organize the training programme for Chinese football coaches over the past two years. He hoped that the two parties would build on these successful experiences to further expand their Sino-UK cooperation project. He extended his cordial invitation to the Association to visit China and discuss specific programmes with related departments and units.

Mr. Bridgford expressed his appreciation of the strong supports from the Ministry of Education of China, and he hoped a long-term cooperation between the two parties would continue. He also hoped that, with the support of the  Consulate General, the Association would continue its support of Chinese football to meet the demands of China's football market by making the best use of Manchester's rich and unique football resources.