Ahead of the Chinese New Year on Saturday 25 January, Manchester United debuted their special, limited-edition pre-match jerseys in their warm-up prior to the game against Norwich. The design sees an intricately embroidered dragon emblem on the chest, tying the club to the mystic beast of Chinese folklore.
Pre-match shirts present the perfect platform for statement designs, and this is absolutely evident with Manchester United’s Chinese New Year shirt from adidas. The Limited Edition shirt arrives alongside other pieces of apparel, including a jacket, t-shirt, sweatshirt and pants, each with embroidered dragon motifs and subtle detailing in a nod to Chinese folklore.
Whether it was down to some fortune the shirt brought or not (unlikely, we know), United went on to demolish bottom of the table Norwich 4-0. Sounds easy enough, right? And yet Manchester United have struggled against lower league opposition in recent times, despite being the only team to take points away from league leaders, Liverpool so far this season.
Manchester United have visited China for pre-season tours in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013 and most recently in 2019 as the club look to establish themselves as the leading football team in the Chinese market. Their colours of red lend themselves nicely to that audience and United have become China's most popular European team thanks to several sponsorship deals with Chinese companies, the tours, and of course projects like this with adidas.
Pick up the Manchester United 19/20 Chinese New Year Shirt at prodirectsoccer.com
