Shenyang Olympic Stadium will host a friendship match between the Liaoning Hongyuan and the Birmingham soccer teams July 24. All earnings will be donated to the China Foundation of Disabled Persons.

Thirty-three-year-old soccer player Li Tie, a member of Liaoning Hongyuan Football Club, has been invited by Birmingham to play for its team. Whether he will join the coming match as a Hongyuan or Birmingham member is not yet known.

Li earlier revealed his hesitation to transfer to the Birmingham City Football Club..

“Birmingham City Football Club sincerely sent me an invitation to the club. But I am working happily with the Liaoning club and coach. That’s a tough decision. Anyway, what won’t change is I’m still a football player,” said Li.

Li, one of China’s best soccer players of the 1990s, once was the main strength of Everton. He will likely be a center back if he joins Birmingham because defense is his stock-in-trade.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, the team became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943. At the end of the 2008–09 season, they were promoted from the Football League Championship to the Premier League. The team spent five previous seasons playing in the Premier League.

By Xie Fang