{"id":752692,"date":"2026-06-22T01:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/752692\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T01:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T01:48:09","slug":"missing-out-once-again-china-dreams-of-future-world-cup-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/752692\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing out once again, China dreams of future World Cup glory\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A man and a child play soccer near a huge mocked World Cup trophy as people visit a FIFA World Cup Carnival held in Beijing on Sunday.Andy Wong\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

As 48 soccer teams from around the world, from tiny strivers to sporting powerhouses, descended on North America this month, many viewers could be forgiven for wondering \u201cwhere\u2019s China?\u201d <\/p>\n

The world\u2019s second-largest economy has only competed in one World Cup<\/a> \u2013 in 2002 \u2013 a perennial source of irritation and embarrassment for home fans<\/a>, who must bear the bemusement<\/a> of the global soccer community every four years when they, once again, miss out on its biggest party. <\/p>\n

This year, even with an expanded number of teams participating, China didn\u2019t come close to qualifying, crashing out in the third round of Asia playoffs with its worst performance in a decade. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople treat the China football team as a punchline, because they keep letting everyone down,\u201d said fan Nichole Qin. \u201cThe national side seems to have barely improved over the past two decades, whereas mid-level teams elsewhere have made huge progress at their level, which was clear in the Asia qualifiers.\u201d <\/p>\n

Heading into this year\u2019s tournament, enthusiasm was so low that FIFA struggled to sell<\/a> broadcast rights in China, eventually taking a reported<\/a> US$240-million haircut on the deal. While this was partly due to the timings of the North American games, which often fall very early in the morning in Asia, China\u2019s lack of representation was undoubtedly a major factor. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Interest has picked up since the games began, with fans as keen as anyone to see superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi \u2013 both of whom have substantial social media followings in China. Chinese viewers have also found a homegrown hero to root for, albeit not a traditional one: match official Ma Ning, who became<\/a> the country\u2019s first referee to oversee a World Cup game in 24 years in Ecuador\u2019s clash against Cura\u00e7ao on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Chinese sponsors, too, are all over the World Cup, underlying the country\u2019s importance as an economic superpower. But while this may offer some small solace to home fans, it can\u2019t help but raise the question why one of the richest countries in the world, with a population of 1.4 billion, still can\u2019t cobble together a decent starting 11? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not for lack of trying<\/a>. In 2016, China unveiled plans to build 70,000 soccer pitches nationwide and get 30 million schoolchildren playing the sport by 2020. Chinese President Xi Jinping, himself a soccer fan, called for the country to become a \u201cfirst-class football superpower.\u201d <\/p>\n

Similar measures have paid off in other sports: China has been a dominant force at the Summer Olympics for decades, and increasingly become a major contender at the Winter Games too, since booking hosting duties for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

On Saturday, Ma Ning became the first Chinese referee to oversee a World Cup game in 24 years.WILLIAM PURNELL\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Responding to the government\u2019s cue, in the mid-2010s investors pumped millions into the Chinese Super League, with teams signing foreign players like Carlos Tevez, Hulk and Oscar, similar to how Saudi Arabia and the U.S. league have become landing pads for aging stars today. <\/p>\n

But in the past decade, China\u2019s FIFA world ranking has slipped<\/a> from 81st to 91st, just above Bahrain and behind Zambia, a country with less than two per cent of the population of China\u2019s. The CSL meanwhile has been dogged by corruption, mismanagement and an overreliance on big property investors, most notoriously in the case of two-time Asian Champions League victors Guangzhou FC, which dissolved in 2025 after the bankruptcy of part-owner Evergrande. <\/p>\n

\u201cCompared to other countries, I think the main difference comes down to cultural soil,\u201d said Dong Lu, general manager of fourth-tier Beijing Pengrui. \u201cThe footballing philosophy and environment that kids are immersed in here is just different. On top of that, there are fewer high-level matches domestically, so kids don\u2019t get many opportunities to be tested in high-caliber competitions.\u201d <\/p>\n

John Duerden, author of a Substack<\/a> focused on Asian football, agreed, noting that in Japan and South Korea, the continent\u2019s two best performing soccer countries, it is common to see both children and adults playing soccer. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you walk around in China though, you just don\u2019t see it,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the last time I saw people playing football in Beijing or Shanghai, they were foreigners.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, there are signs of change, and that the money invested a decade ago might finally be starting to pay off. <\/p>\n

According to the Chinese Football Association, there are<\/a> almost a million registered players and some 40,000 teams in amateur leagues across the country. While that\u2019s still a fraction<\/a> of the total playing in a soccer-mad country like England, the number of players has almost doubled in the past year, while some 8,000 new teams have been registered. <\/p>\n

That uptick is almost certainly linked to the unlikely success of the Jiangsu Football City League, also known as \u201cSuchao.\u201d Launched in May, 2025, the grassroots league\u2019s debut season drew in more than 2.43 million live spectators and generated two billion online views, according to the state-run China Daily<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Far less self-serious than the ultra-capitalist CSL, Suchao has won hearts across the country for its nail-biter matches and quirky half-time performances, and sparked a wave of copycat leagues<\/a> in other provinces, that might finally be laying the groundwork for a successful national side. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Soccer’s biggest stars, like Lionel Messi, whose jersey is worn by fans at a Shanghai watch party on Wednesday, have huge followings in China, despite the nation’s lack of success in the game on the global stage.Go Nakamura\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cI think football culture in China is actually pretty solid,\u201d Qin said. \u201cYou might not see much talk about it online day-to-day, but when there\u2019s a match on, the energy is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most positively, China\u2019s youth sides are outperforming their senior counterparts, with the under-17 team last month securing<\/a> their place in the next youth World Cup, while the under-23 squad reached the finals of the Asian Cup last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe current generation of youth academy kids has the potential to carry the future of Chinese men\u2019s football,\u201d Mr. Dong said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThings like the Village Super League, City Super League, and Provincial Super League, along with results like our U17 team\u2019s performance, all help raise football\u2019s profile and deepen people\u2019s affection for the sport.\u201d <\/p>\n

With files from Alexandra Li in Beijing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A man and a child play soccer near a huge mocked World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-752692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}