Fifa World Cup next for Olympic hosts China

BEIJING • After staging both a Summer and a Winter Olympics, there is one major international sport event left for China to host - the football World Cup.

President Xi Jinping, a football fan, has said he wants China to stage and even win the men's World Cup one day, and the nation has been building and renovating stadiums in apparent anticipation.

But analysts say Xi's dream faces a number of obstacles, starting with the dismal performance of the national team.

The men's side have only qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002, when they failed to win a point or even score a goal. Their qualification for Qatar 2022 ended in a humiliating 3-1 defeat by Vietnam this month.

As hosts, they would automatically qualify for the World Cup, but the current Chinese side would be in real danger of humiliation.

"Many believe China doesn't want to host a World Cup until they can be more confident the national team can perform well enough so as not to embarrass the country," said Cameron Wilson, founder of the Wild East Football site, which specialises in Chinese football.

Chinese football became famous a few years ago for splurging on famous foreign coaches and players, naturalising some of them, but those days are now long gone.

"Chinese football is dying because it is controlled by political, not sporting forces," Wilson said.

China needs to "reduce pressure on ordinary people so they are more willing to let their kids spend time on anything other than... homework", he added.

Mads Davidsen, former technical director of Chinese Super League side Shanghai Port, expects China to make a bid for either the 2034 or 2038 World Cup.

But there is a "lack of investment in the long term" and too much focus on immediate success, he said.

Despite the doom facing Chinese football after several clubs folded in debt, including the former champions Jiangsu Suning, Vietnam's Under-20 coach Philippe Troussier believes the national side are "improving year by year".

"Chinese football has evolved a lot" with many club academies which "now invest in the detection, selection and training of young players", said Troussier, who coached two Chinese teams previously.

Bo Li, professor of sports management at Miami University, said Fifa is interested in awarding the World Cup to host countries who can co-bid - something which seems unlikely in China's case.

"The competition... is a lot more intensive compared to the Olympic bid," he said, pointing out the voting format "requires the interested country to have a great relationship with the majority of Fifa members".

"Given the current diplomatic relations, it does not seem that China could work with any neighbouring nation for a co-bid," he warned.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE