There is a buzz about the World Cup among my Chinese friends. There was huge excitement when David Beckham came to China last year as Global Ambassador for the Chinese Super League (CSL) and especially to encourage the development of the sport in schools here. Now we know that President Xi will attend the World Cup in Brazil. Thus a reasonable question is: Can China dream of hosting the World Cup?

On a capability level, the answer is a resounding YES! China proved that with the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, not to mention the current 2014 World Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. The infrastructure is there. Soccer was well-staged in Shanghai for the Olympics, the Bird's Nest in Beijing would make a magnificent venue for a WC Final. The CSL champions and current Asian champions hail from Guangzhou. Plenty of stadiums and high speed trains to connect venues. The support would surely be there from the huge populations of the first and second tier cities and the major airports provide excellent international access.

The Bird's Nest would make a great venue for a World Cup Final - photo by Colin Speakman

On opportunity, the story is a little different. The initial stages of bidding to hold the 2018 World Cup were sandwiched between 2008 Olympics and 2010 Expo, and it would have been too greedy for China to be thinking that soon. Besides, although open to most Confederations, it was expected to be a European winner as it was. Yet the 2022 World Cup, also open, was destined to be an Asian Confederation winner. Australia, Japan, S.Korea and Qatar bid from there. The peculiarity was that in late 2010, not only the 2018 bid, but also the 2022 had to be in and decided together. Normally the 2022 bid would not even be decided now and a timing much more suited to China. History cannot be re-written, but under the current rules, with an Asian member, Qatar, as host for 2022, China could not bid on the next two World Cups of 2026 and 2030. The earliest would be 2034 and that is 20 years away!

Clearly that dulls the excitement a bit. Yet there is the Qatar issue. IF that nation were to be denied the right to host on alleged corruption charges, a re-vote could only be among the other 2022 candidates. If that happened and it went to another Asian Confederation member, nothing changes. However, the USA was also a bidder in 2022 and if they agreed to run again and won, then 2026 would be open to China to bid for. Much would have to happen and see my next article on Qatar.

The China National Team can make fans proud of the badge but it will take time to develop talent.

Finally, there is the question of the competitiveness of the China national soccer team. Whenever China does host it, they automatically qualify. They qualified for the only time through playing results in 2002, when Japan and S.Korea jointly hosted, but China lost all games, failing to score a goal. Clearly China would need to raise the standard of the team to be proud of it as the host nation. I am convinced that this can be done and that it would be done by the time of any World Cup in China. Indeed, being awarded the World Cup and knowing this some 7 years in advance would be a great spur to improving the game. Yet the opportunity remains very far off right now.

By ColinSpeakman

International Educator, Economist, goal of helping to increase understanding of China by the West

 

 

(Opinions of the writer in this blog don't represent those of China Daily.)