Alessandro Nesta (L) playing for AC Milan in their match against AS Roma. (Photo : Reuters)
Zong Qinghou, the chairman of China's biggest beverage maker, Hangzhou Wahaha Group, has dismissed media reports that he is planning to purchase shares in Italian professional soccer club AC Milan, Reuters reported.
According to the 2015 Hurun Global Rich list, a ranking of the world's billionaires, Zong Qinghou has an estimated net worth of $19 billion.
Rumors have been circulating in Italian media that the Chinese billionaire intends to acquire up to 75 percent of AC Milan, but Zong described the reports as "sheer fiction."
In his official Sina Weibo account, Zong said that he has no plans to enter the "soccer sphere" and has not contacted the Italian football club in any way.
He added that his firm would rather buy a football club in China, instead of a foreign team.
"Even if we wanted to buy a soccer club, we would only consider a domestic team," Zong said.
Speculations of Zong's plan to buy AC Milan have circulated after Dalian Wanda Group, a property conglomerate in China, acquired a 20-percent stake in current La Liga champion Atletico Madrid for $48.45 million.
AC Milan has been struggling since winning a league title four years ago.
But the football club, presently controlled by Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has been enjoying immense popularity in China, the Bleacher Report said.
The team has over two million followers on China's social media website Weibo, and they even received a hero's welcome from Chinese fans when they played in Beijing for Supercoppa Italiana in 2011, where they beat rival team Inter Milan.
