Euro 2024: former China player Fan Zhiyi stuns social media with perfect last-16 picks
- The World Cup defender, who played club football in England and Hong Kong, made his picks all the way to the final on a Chinese sports show
A former Chinese footballer who played in Hong Kong and England has left mainland social media users stunned after he correctly predicted which teams would progress from the round of 16 at the European Championship in Germany.
Defender Fan Zhiyi, who played for Hong Kong Rangers FC and captained Crystal Palace in the EFL Championship, made his predictions on Chinese show Xinai Sports last Sunday, following Germany’s 2-0 victory over Denmark and Italy’s defeat to Switzerland by the same scoreline in the first game of the knockout rounds.
Fan correctly guessed England would beat Slovakia, Spain would overcome Georgia, France would be too much for Belgium, Portugal would progress against Slovenia, Netherlands to come out on top against Romania and Turkey would triumph over Austria.
Now, Chinese fans, who watched Fan represent his country in their only World Cup appearance in 2002, are waiting to see if his semi-final results will come to fruition, including Germany beating Spain and France knocking out Portugal.
“That’s really impressive, from the round of 16 to the quarters and not one wrong. Damn,” one Xiaohongshu user wrote.
“If it’s that simple, you can get a mansion facing the sea,” one user quipped, suggesting Fan should back his predictions with a bet.
