A Beijing's football fan from Somalia

Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, and huge changes have been made in Beijing, capital of China, over the past 40 years. We have invited 40 foreign experts to participate in a series of interviews named “New Era, New Insight” jointly hosted by GMW.cn（The official website of Guangming Daily） and the Information Office of Beijing Municipality and share their “Beijing Stories”.

My name is Abdinasir Ahmed, I'm from Somalia. 27 years ago I came to Beijing to study. I studied Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University for two years.Later I went to Beijing Sport University for undergraduate and graduate studies.

I work at the Somali Embassy. I am also one of the organizers of the Beijing International Friendship Football Club(IFFC）. At the same time, I am a Co-founder of the HiKicker Football Club in Beijing. The cultivation of young football players throughout China didn’t begin until recent years

HiKicker Football Club was established in 2014. At the beginning, there were only more than twenty children. Now we have more than 700. As soon as I first came, I started to watch Beijing Guoan games. At that time, the league was called League A.

I think the spirit of Beijing football is pretty good. Sometimes I go to the Beijing Workers Stadium to watch games featuring Beijing Guoan. The enthusiasm of the fans is pretty impressive.

It used to be difficult to play football with the locals, even Chinese. Because most Beijingers think it was difficult to overcome differences between languages and cultures. So they rarely got close to foreigners or to play football, or simply have fun together

But when we play or watch football games now. We would talk with Beijingers. They would invite us to play football with them or would say we should watch or talk about football. So it’s totally different

If someone asks me "Where is your hometown?" I would say Beijing. I really like Beijing very much. Because Beijing has given me my career. Beijing has given me a lot of friends. So no matter where I go, Beijing is my home, Beijing is my favorite city

I would say the Chinese league is now the best in Asia. So in the near future. I think Chinese football will get better and better. Go Guoan! Go!