Naturalized Chinese footballer wishes prosperity for adopted country

Ai Kesen is celebrating his first National Day as a naturalized Chinese citizen, and the football player has expressed his well wishes to his new adopted country.

"I wish our country more prosperity. The future will be better," wrote the former Brazilian national in Chinese on his official Weibo account.

Ai made the comment in the re-post of a music video by the Chinese Football Association, where several players from both China's men's and women's team performed their rendition of "Me and My Motherland," a popular patriotic song.

Ai did not perform but the video features a clip in which he greeted supporters with a Chinese flag draped over his shoulders.

Ai Kesen greets supporters of China's national football team after the World Cup qualifier against the Maldives on September 10, 2019. [Photo: IC/Liu Jialiang]

Born Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso in Brazil and formerly known as Elkeson, the player joined Guangzhou Evergrande of the Chinese Super League in 2012. He won three championships in China's top flight and two Asian Champions League titles before he switched to Shanghai SIPG in 2016. The striker returned to Guangzhou Evergrande earlier this year. He officially obtained Chinese citizenship this past summer and became the first person of non-Chinese ancestry to be naturalized in the country.

Now known as Ai Kesen, the player made his national team debut against the Maldives in a World Cup qualifier last month. Ai scored a brace to lift the Chinese team to a 5-0 victory.

Ai is currently the top scorer in Chinese Super League history with 103 goals during his 6-year spell so far.

Ai is having a busy National Day holiday. He and his Guangzhou Evergrande teammates are visiting Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds in the Asian Champions League on Wednesday.