在1月初的一场比赛中，曼联队的鲁尼和伯明翰城俱乐部的卡尔争球。

　　为了挖掘超一流球员，英格兰足球俱乐部曼联队(Manchester United)不惜远赴巴西、塞内加尔和塞尔维亚。

　　For top-caliber athletes, English football club Manchester United turns to Brazil, Senegal and Serbia.

　　不过曼联来到亚洲通常都是为了掘金。

　　But when it comes to Asia, it is usually seeking money.

　　曼联俱乐部的控股公司计划在新加坡和香港发债筹资5亿英镑（约合8.01亿美元），市场推介活动于本周开始。这是该公司利用亚洲球迷对足球，这一被球王贝利(Pele)称为“漂亮比赛”的喜爱之情的最新举动。

　　The club's holding company kicked off marketing this week for its GBP 500 million ($801 million) bond offering in Singapore and Hong Kong, the latest effort to tap Asian fondness for what football icon Pele called 'the beautiful game.'

　　近年来，曼联以及利物浦(Liverpool)和巴塞罗纳(Barcelona)等竞争对手频频造访亚洲地区，在从马来西亚到泰国以及中国的亚洲各地培养球迷基础和销售球衣。曼联队已经开设了中文和日文的网站，2008年2月，曼联队还在澳门的威尼斯人度假村开设了一个占地16,000平方英尺的商店，销售球衣、围巾、钥匙链以及其他商品。

　　United and its rivals like Liverpool and Barcelona are regular visitors to the region in recent years, whipping up a fan base and selling replica jerseys everywhere from Malaysia to Thailand and China. There are now Japanese and Chinese versions of Manchester United's Web site, and in February 2008 the club opened a 16,000-square-foot store selling jerseys, scarves, key rings and more at the Venetian resort and casino in Macau.

　　英格兰足球还通过发售电视转播权和广告从亚洲创收。去年10月，新加坡电信有限公司(Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.)取代StarHub，赢得了英格兰超级联赛在亚洲部分地区的电视转播权，以据报道超过2亿美元的总额签下了始于8月份的三年转播合约。

　　The sport has also tapped Asia's wealth through the sale of television rights and advertising. In October, a battle for the rights to show English Premier League matches on television in parts of Asia saw Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. replace StarHub in a three-year deal starting August reportedly worth more than $200 million.

　　亚洲公司已经成为了欧洲足球俱乐部的主要赞助商，不过赞助金额通常都不会披露。三星电子(Samsung Electronics)去年续签了与切尔西俱乐部(Chelsea FC)的赞助合约，在切尔西球衣打上了三星的标志。泰国Thai Beverage PLC也与埃弗顿俱乐部(Everton)签署了赞助合约，在埃弗顿球衣上印上Chang Beer的商标。而韩国LG电子的商标(LG Electronics)也出现在富勒姆(Fulham)的球衣上。与曼联签署赞助合约的亚洲公司还有韩国的锦湖轮胎(Kumho Tire)、香港和记电讯国际旗下印尼子公司TRI Indonesia以及印度的Bharti Airtel。

　　Asian companies have become major sponsors, though terms usually aren't disclosed. Samsung Electronics Co. last year renewed an agreement with Chelsea FC that splashes its corporate logo across the team's jerseys. Thai Beverage PLC has a deal to put the Chang Beer logo on Everton Jerseys, while South Korea's LG Electronics logo is displayed on the jerseys of Fulham players. Other Asian corporate tie-ups have seen Manchester United get together with South Korea's Kumho Tire Co., TRI Indonesia -- a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. -- and India's Bharti Airtel Ltd.

　　一些亚洲最富有的投资者也涉足了英格兰足坛。

　　Some of Asia's wealthiest investors have linked up with the sport.

　　泰国前总理他信(Thaksin Shinawatra)曾在2007年斥资8,200万英镑买下曼城队(Manchester City)，一年后又转手卖给了阿联酋阿布扎比一个财团。市场猜测伦敦西汉姆联队(West Ham)的可能买家包括了马来西亚廉价航空公司亚洲航空有限公司(AirAsia)的首席执行长费尔南德斯(Tony Fernandes)；尽管他在个人博客和Twitter撰文澄清，但也难以摆脱外界猜测。

　　Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra paid GBP 82 million to become the owner of Manchester City in 2007, and sold out a year later to a group from Abu Dhabi. Speculation over the potential buyer of London-based West Ham includes Tony Fernandes, chief executive of Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Bhd. -- a possibility Mr. Fernandes has done little to dispel in postings to his own blog and on Twitter.

　　印度钢铁大亨米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)也涉足了英格兰足坛，在2007年携手世界一级方程式赛车(Formula One)的布里亚托利(Flavio Briatore)和埃克尔斯通(Bernie Ecclestone)投资了不知名的低级别球队女王公园巡游者队(Queen's Park Rangers)。

　　Indian steel czar Lakshmi Mittal has also dabbled in the sport, joining Formula One's Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone as part owners in unfashionable lower-league club Queen's Park Rangers in 2007.

　　去年10月，香港商人杨家诚（Carson Yeung）收购了英格兰的伯明翰城俱乐部(Birmingham City)。现在，伯明翰城队成了英超的一匹黑马。杨家诚承诺要投资4000万英镑加强球队实力。

　　More recently, Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung took over England's Birmingham City in October last year -- his team is one of the surprise packages of the season there. Mr. Yeung has promised GBP 40 million to strengthen the team.

　　不过，亚洲普通投资者是否愿意认购曼联债券仍有待观察。

　　Whether less high-profile investors in Asia are ready to take a stake in Manchester United bonds remains to be seen, however.

　　新加坡一位基金经理说，发债公司来自欧洲，就算曼联是足坛巨人，也很少有亚洲投资者会对此感兴趣。他认为这笔发债交易的投资者将主要来自于欧洲。

　　'It's a European issuer. Very few of us investors in Asia will be interested regardless of it being a soccer giant,' said a fund manager in Singapore. 'I think the investor base will be mostly in Europe.'

　　这笔交易的路演已经转移至欧洲，之后一周将在美国进行。

　　The roadshow has moved on to Europe and will be in the U.S. next week.