Five-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady is in China this week.
The New England Patriots star is on a promotional tour for Under Armour and the National Football League (NFL). It's his first trip to the Middle Kingdom.
He stopped by Shanghai's Luwan Stadium yesterday to meet with fans and practice with local football teams from the American Football League of China (AFLC).
"My dream is to play a game here in China some day," the 39-year-old quarterback and husband of Brazilian supermodel Gisele said earlier this week.
Watch a video of Brady making his grand entrance (VPN off):
Outside of China? Watch on Youtube here.
Not even Shanghai's infamous plum rains could stop Brady and the football players from having a little fun on the field.
At a press conference after practice yesterday, Brady talked about his career and American football's growing popularity in China.
When asked if he thought if it was inevitable for the NFL expand the sport and one day hold a regular season game in China, Brady said, "I hope so."
Said Brady:
"I think you need to start with small goals and work up to that. I think that playing one game logistically might be challenging. Even we were supposed to play a preseason game [here]. I think so many teams of other sports have done a great job of doing exhibitions in other countries. Certainly I thought we were going to do that 10 years ago, to come to China and play, it was right prior to the Olympics. So I’m hoping to have the opportunity to come one day, and I’m going to bring the knowledge that I have from being here and what the culture is and what the fans want in order to try to achieve that. I think it would be a great experience. And I think that other players need to take the opportunity to come and enjoy the experience. I think teams, even coaches, need to come and see what this country has to offer."
"Basketball has done such a great job and I’m sure there’s so many Chinese youth that grow up playing basketball,” he added.
“If you don’t watch it on TV it’s hard to become inspired and this is very much an American sport because it’s shown there," he said. "I think there needs to be opportunities for Chinese to watch the game. So I would love for that to happen so that they can become great fans.”
Brady also stopped by Beijing over the weekend, where he was spotted tossing a football on the Great Wall for Father's Day and practicing tai chi in a park.
Photos by Bridget O'Donnell, additional images via the Boston Globe on Twitter, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Instagram
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