Gao Leilei (center) tries to block Portuguese football star Luis Figo of visiting Real Madrid Leyendas in a friendly match in Beijing on September 20 Cheap New England Patriots Hats , 2013. Photo: IC
You may well have heard of ping-pong diplomacy - but "football philanthropy"? That's what Gao Leilei, a former 20-year veteran of Beijing's Guo'an Football Club, calls his latest venture in life.


For two decades, he had tried to challenge the Chinese football system, long plagued by match-fixing, crooked referees and illegal gambling. Later he worked outside the system by participating in overseas football matches as an advocate of what he calls "football philanthropy."


Although he has retired as a professional football player in 2011, Gao continues his cause as a philanthropist.


"As a former football player, I hope I can change people's negative impression of us Cheap New England Patriots T-Shirts , and I also want to show people that Chinese football players have positive powers," the bearded 34-year-old smiles.


Since 2006, Gao, a teetotaler who doesn't smoke, has saved every penny he can to help children in need. By that time in his career, his yearly salary was around 300,000 yuan ($48,000) - not much perhaps for a professional player - but Gao managed to spare a third of his income to sponsor students who could not afford to go to school Cheap New England Patriots Hoodie , and even helped build schools for them. So far, he has assisted over 100 students.


Betrayer of Chinese football


Gao was recruited into football when he was 19. While most of his peers were studying at universities, he had already begun to travel around the world participating in diverse competitions. His career peaked in 1999, when he scored a goal from midfield that equalized Guo'an with Liaoning in China's then football league Class A Division.


That gave him the opportunity to aim for the national team but despite his skills and talents, Gao was weeded out from competition. Later, Gao discovered this was because, he says, he had "no guanxi [personal connections] with the national team." Gao insists he was forced to leave China due to the dire situation of its football.


Frustrated with the unjust treatment Customized New England Patriots Jersey , Gao transferred and played abroad for clubs in Finland, Australia and the United States. Travelling broadened his horizons, but Gao soon realized that, although he could not change the overall situation, he could do something to change people's attitudes toward Chinese football players' images - starting with his own.


"People have negative impression of football players because there are always scandals, but I want to change people's attitudes toward us by building schools and helping people," Gao, now the father of a 1-year-old boy Cheap New England Patriots Jerseys , says.


Since 2007, Gao has been devoting time and energy to popularizing football and other sports activities in rural areas in Sichuan Province. Using his achievements as a sportsman, he has also accumulated a reputation for planting the seed of sport into students' hearts and inspiring their eagerness for football.