Maradona due in China ´for charity lunch with fans´

Football legend Diego Maradona is due in China in November for a charity tour that will see him lunch with fans and sing in a concert, the organiser said Sunday.

Maradona, who was dismissed as Argentina’s national team coach in July, will travel to China with 11 players to raise money for a Chinese Red Cross Foundation project aimed at helping poor people who suffer from cancer.

“He will participate in a series of charity events including playing no less than 20 minutes in two football games,” Wang Ling, head of Guojin Yihui (Beijing) International Culture Company, which is planning the trip, told AFP.

“Maradona sings very well and we are organising a concert for him in China,” he added.

The football legend will also have lunch with the highest bidder of an auction due to take place before his arrival on November 3, Wang said.

According to the foundation’s website, the meal will last two hours and the winner will be able to bring six friends.

Maradona and the players, whose names have not yet been revealed, will stay in China for 10 days on a trip that will also take in Liaoning province in the northeast and Anhui in the east.