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An old photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping with several veteran football players.
File photo taken in February 2012 shows Xi Jinping kicks a Gaelic football as he visits the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland. (Xinhua)
(ECNS) -- An old photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping with several veteran football players hit headlines on Wednesday.
The photo was taken in 1995 in Fuzhou, Fujian province, where Xi was then deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee. Xi dined with several football players who took part in a national game there.
The photo was donated in August by Chen Huadi, chairman of the Fuzhou Provincial Football Association, said Zhang Wuyi, a football fan and avid collector of related memorabilia, according to the Zhengzhou Evening News.
Having collected nearly 10,000 items in the past 40 years, Zhang has established China's first private football museum, converted from two apartments on Zhengzhou's Jing'er road.
It is well known that President Xi favors football. He has spoken of "three wishes" for China: to qualify for another World Cup, to host a World Cup, and to eventually win one in 2011, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Guangzhou Evergrande won the Asian Football Confederation's Champions League title on Nov. 9 during the four-day Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.
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