Man City cult hero is now worth £20 million after huge career change
A former Manchester City player who featured in the club's humiliating 8-1 loss to Middlesbrough is now worth £20m.
On 11 May 2008, City were defeated by Middlesbrough at Riverside Stadium. Richard Dunne was sent off early and Afonso Alves scored a hat-trick in Sven Goran Eriksson's final game.
Sun Jihai was one of the City defenders who scored eight goals on Teesside and it was also his last game for the club as he later signed for Sheffield United.
The 45-year-old has made 123 Premier League appearances and is the first East Asian player to score in the competition. Advertisement
The former China international, who played 80 times, retired in December 2016 but has prepared a lot for life after football.
Earlier that year, he co-founded sports data company HaiQui Sports [HQ] with Beijing Renhe.
Advertisement
The company has more than 100 employees, specializing in sports media, technology and data services, and Sun appears to have hosted a talk show to promote the company.
HQ's biggest selling point is the release of a sports social media app called MiaoHi, which has helped fans connect with more than 2,000 celebrities.
Earlier this year, The Sun reported that 400 million people were using the app, and that the Chinese national team streamed content on the app during the bidding period to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Advertisement
The buzz around the app is so strong that "multi-million dollar" investments from China Media Capital, Tencent and Yuan Xu Fund have arrived.
And as a result, Jihai did very well financially. PeopleWorthWiki says he is worth £20m after making smart decisions after football.
"I was thinking about starting the company in November 2015 and the company was founded in February 2016 - the decision was made quite quickly," he told the Daily Star in 2017.
"It would be quite difficult for an average footballer to get into the tech industry. I am fortunate to have friends and partners who are knowledgeable in technology and other similar areas."
Advertisement
Jihai was still involved in football when he was the vice president of the FA in the Xinjiang region of China.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0