Soon-to-be ex-Manchester-United player Rio Ferdinand poses with a shirt as he arrives at the Changi International Airport in Singapore on May 13, 2014 for the SG Game ON! Ultimate Selfie Challenge. Image: AFP
It’s with both joyful and heavy hearts that local football fanatics welcomed star player Rio Ferdinand to Singapore, just hours after the news of his departure from the English football team, Manchester United, broke. (Although I’m pretty sure that the joy outweighed grief for 50 fans who greeted the star player at Changi Airport, given how obliging he was with autographs and selfies.)
Despite his decreasing playing time, Ferdinand’s departure from the team after a long 12 years run has still upset many and his presence in Manchester United will still be sorely missed.
Don’t be so quick to bid the footballer farewell, however, as Rio Ferdinand has said that he has no plans to retire and will be weighing several offers. The soon-to-be ex-Man-U player is in town for the SG! Game On! Ultimate Selfie Challenge from Thursday, May 15 to Friday, with Manchester City’s Argentinian forward Sergio Aguero.
Over the two days, the pair will be pit against each other in a ‘selfie’ battle where they are tasked to capture pictures of themselves engaging in a series of activities like practising taiji, sampling Singapore hawker food and playing football of course and posting them on social media. The footballer with the most number of retweets wins the challenge.