Column: When will China win the World Cup?

By Alex Wright - Iamthefootballblogger.com

As Chinese footballing interest grows almost as fast as Wayne Shaw’s most memorable night fell to pieces; spurred on by their football fanatic president Xi Jinping, many people are now asking the question: ‘When will China win the World Cup?’

Over the past few years, European football has started to notice a growing number of footballers taking a step into the unknown by leaving for China. Now huge sums of money are being spent on foreign players, extending to £40 million for Carlos Tevez on a £310,000 a week contract, people have started to fear Chinese football. “Going to China is accepting your career is over”, “China thinks they can buy football” and “It’s a waste of your career” are all things I’m sure we’ve all heard and maybe even said about those moving to China. But is it really that way?

Xi Jinping has set up a project to try to make football an integral part of life in China and it has to be said at the moment he is succeeding. Since he assumed power in 2012 there has been a 20% increase in the number of people attending Chinese Super League games, the world’s biggest football academy has opened in China and global knowledge of Chinese football has increased. However Xi Jinping has no plans to stop here, as in the plans he has outlined, he has stated that by 2020 he wants there to be 20,000 training centres and 70,000 pitches. Perhaps his biggest wish though is for China to be a footballing superpower by 2050.

Many people, when you ask them “when China will win the World Cup?” would simply answer “I hadn’t even realised China played football.” Maybe this is a fair point though. China is 86th in the official FIFA rankings out of 209 and with almost a 10th of the world’s population maybe China should have a better known football team. So far in 2017 they have taken on the mighty Iceland where they suffered a 2-0 defeat however they have beaten Croatia, ranked 16th in the world, on penalties. As China’s chances of qualifying for the upcoming 2018 seem gone, perhaps becoming a global footballing superpower in 30 years won’t be as easy as Xi Jinping may have hoped.

So where is this World Cup coming from? Who will carry China to the World Cup in the same way Bobby Moore did for England all those years ago? I certainly can’t answer that and I would doubt any one could at the moment. Given China isn’t currently producing footballers of the standard they desire, it comes as no surprise to me that to try to see his dream through, President Jinping is starting from the bottom. Since becoming president, Xi Jinping has made football part of the school curriculum in an effort to inspire as many young people as possible. Also, the support of many top Chinese teams, especially Shanghai SIPG who have set up 25 satellite football schools to scout the best young players to become a part of the SIPG academy and way of life, is proving pivotal towards developing the best Chinese players.

Despite the fact the best is still to come from China, and their journey to being world champions is still at the start of a long road, there is Chinese talent out there. In 2015 many football fans, including myself were stunned to see that Chelsea were supposedly interested in Chinese defender Zhang Linping. This deal never went through and Zhang Linping is still playing in the Chinese Super League but for me this marked a real breakthrough, this was the first time in a long time any big club had been linked with a Chinese player, the last I can remember is Sun Jihai of Manchester City between 2002 and 2008. However there is Chinese talent starting to slip into the dreamland that is Europe. Zhang Yuning of Vitesse made the switch to the Eredevise in 2015 is a 20-year-old striker who has scored 17 goals in 11 appearances for China under 20’s team; he also scored 2 goals on his first team debut for his national side in a 4-2 victory over Trinidad and Tobago. Since moving to Holland he has only scored 4 goals in 22 games but continues to be an exciting prospect and perhaps more importantly, a role model for many young aspiring footballers in China.

Guangzhou football academy is one of many that has been built to supply demand for the next football star.

So as China seeks to become a world beater, it’s time the world opened their eyes to see the real picture as to what’s happening in China. With World Cup 2018 qualification out of the question and as the new scouting systems are still to show the potential coming out of them I think qualification in 2026 is most likely to be our first opportunity since 2002 to see China on the world stage. Come 2030 China is hoping they could host the World Cup providing them with their first opportunity to showcase what we can look forward to from Chinese football.

Therefore, I’d have to say that to see China win the World Cup before 2050 is a long shot but as the standard of football keeps rising, China will soon be a nation to be reckoned with in international football.