Mayor of city Pirot hosted a reception at the town hall for the players of Hebei CFFC, and pointed to traditional Serbian hospitality and wished them a successful season in Serbia.
The reception was attended by President of FC Radnicki, and manager Darko Maric, who is the most responsible for this cooperation. Mayor Vasic emphasized that this is another step towards the realization of the city strategy, which is to make Pirot one of the leading sports and recreational tourist centers of Serbia and all Balkan area.
– Our goal is through sports ties to establish both economic and economic ties with other countries, in this case with China. We are already seeing the contours of achieving our long-term goal, which is to make Pirot a sports-recreational tourist center of this part of the country.
I hope that the Pirot will remain in the memory of the boys from China, I wish them pleasant days in our city, and we will do our best to provide them with maximum conditions – said Mayor Vasic.
Darko Maric: Pirot shows most interest
Manager Darko Maric, who has established a partnership with Hebei CFFC football club from which footballers now come to Pirot, said Pirot was the city that showed the most interest.
– When we first came to Serbia more than a year and a half ago, and wanted to examine the mood among cities and clubs, I have to say that Pirot, more specifically Mayor Vladan Vasic, showed the most interest in realizing this project, so this is one of the reasons, besides the excellent sports infrastructure, why we have decided to bring young footballers from Hebei here – said manager Maric.
Young Chinese footballers are delighted with the reception in Pirot, everyone is satisfied, and they are also pleased with the club itself in China. Mayor Vasic said Chinese football players did not come to Pirot by accident.
– I would like to thank Darko Maric, a former Chinese football player, now a successful manager, whose relationships we have established this cooperation, which we believe will become more extensive over time. China is in a major football expansion.
The Hebei CFFC delegation has visited Pirot three times, they saw all the conditions in the club, the arrangement of the city, and the existence of a very good sports infrastructure in Pirot. After that they made a decision to come to Pirot.
– It is a very significant club, one of the strongest in China in a province of over 75 million people. Currently there are six football players in Pirot, they will be here in the first halfseason, and the idea is that at the beginning of 2018 they will all be back to continue playing in our city. Our doors are always open for them – concluded Mayor Vasic.
Team leader Li Zulun, accompanied by Chinese football players, is delighted with all the conditions in Pirot.
– For now everything is perfect, we feel welcome, the footballers are happy with what they have seen here and we hope that this will become a long-term cooperation for years to come. This is only Phase 1, if this turns out to be a good experience, new footballers will come. Japanese coaches in China are pushing players to not make too many fouls, but in Serbia, they insist on physical contact and “fierce” play, because if you don’t, your opponent will, putting you in an inferior position. Here our players learn to play under pressure and with a lot of physical contact, so we hope that when they return home they will be much stronger and be a real “beast” for other players in China – said Li Zulun.