The Guangzhou Olympic Center was teeming with spectators wearing red-colored jerseys on July 27 as England's premier football club Manchester United played against local team Guangzhou Pharmaceutical. Many Chinese football fans in red jerseys cheered their favourite "Red Devils".

That was what Wilson Cheung wants to see, because his company Win Hanverky distributes the products for the football club on the mainland.

"As hundreds of millions of mainlanders watch European football matches live every weekend, it generates a huge demand for football outfits and equipment," said Cheung, CFO of the Hong Kong-based firm.

According to a survey conducted by Warwick Business School early this year, 54.1 percent of mainland football fans own at least one football jersey. England team's jersey has been the most popular among them, ahead of Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Sharing distributorship of four European football clubs - Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain on the mainland, Win Hanverky plans to generate 50 percent of its turnover on the mainland market in five years, up from the current 25 percent.

The company posted a 16.4 percent increase in turnover for the first six months of the year, reaching HK$1.39 billion, while its net profit raised 14.8 percent to HK$477 million.

To achieve the sales goal, Win Hanverky plans to open the first football-themed mega store in Guangzhou this year. "We are still looking for an appropriate location. The store's concept will be similar as the store in Hong Kong, with an area of 10,000 square feet."

"The football-themed store is still new on the mainland. The uniqueness could attract many mainland football lovers," he said, adding that three to four mega stores would join the pipeline next year. The opening cost of a mega store is about HK$10 million.

It also plans to increase the number of outlets marketing exclusively Umbro products.

Win Hanverky is the sole distributor of Umbro products in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

Cheung expected to increase the Umbro outlets on the mainland to 1,500 in 2008 from the current 1,050.

(By Hui Ching-hoo)