Ten years on, can China still meet grand football plans?

In October 2015, China’s president, Xi Jinping, made a bizarre photo opportunity and bold statement in Manchester.

The former posed alongside Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and Xi and then UK Prime Minister David Cameron in an image of two world leaders. The unlikely selfie became popular on social media.

The football world took notice when the latter set out a target that appeared much more likely for a country of 1.4 billion people.

President Xi stated in a written interview with Reuters that he wanted China’s national team to be “one of the best in the world.”

The Chinese government launched a plan to make China a “world football superpower” by 2050 six months after Xi’s visit to the UK.

The president desired China to host and participate in the men’s World Cup for the long term. He envisioned China as one of Asia’s top teams by 2030.

China ranked 81st in the Fifa world rankings when the strategy was announced. They are wedged between New Zealand and the Caribbean island of Curacao at the 90th kilometer.

China’s only other men’s World Cup appearance is from the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, where they were knocked out in the group stage.

If they lose to Saudi Arabia and Australia during the international break of this month, it almost certainly would mean the end of their chances of making it to the 2026 edition.

Despite that, Xi’s goals are already coming into focus, his 34-year strategy being developed in three stages.

One of them was to get tens of millions of young people involved regularly. The quality of China’s community football initiatives has been greatly increased, with pitches now accessible throughout the nation.

Football pitches were everywhere everywhere when this absolutely kicked off, says Dr. Mike Gow, an expert on contemporary China at Edge Hill University.

However, despite improved access, it’s still challenging to adopt a football culture similar to that found in Europe and the UK.

When David Sproer was offered the chance to work for the Shanghai Football Association as a youth coach in the women’s game in Cologne in 2018, he accepted the opportunity.

He claims that it resembled a gold rush. “It seemed like Chinese football was really taking off, and it could have a lot of positive things in store for the future,” he said.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sproer and many other European coaches left the country.

He claims that he has no regrets about spending time in China, but believes that some of his lessons have helped to explain why the nation is so dominant in Olympic sports like table tennis and diving, but has struggled in the field of football, where cohesion and communication are more crucial.

He claims that Chinese children are educated and socialized a little differently from European children. They are taught that both a right and a wrong response are always present.

You must be a little bit more adept at football than, say, diving. It’s about creativity as well as perfection.

The perception of football in the country has also had an impact on the development of the game among young people.

Former Everton midfielder Li Tie was given a 20-year prison sentence in December 2024 for fixing matches and accepting bribes. From January 2020 to December 2021, he served as the head coach of China’s men’s national team.

The latest in a long line of corruption scandals has devastated Chinese football for many years. Sproer claims that they have had an impact on the number of parents who are willing to volunteer to assist in the formation of youth teams.

“Kids are under a lot of academic pressure. He claims that the parents’ jobs are under pressure.

According to Dr. Gow, “This is like England getting hammered by Germany.”

Fans were enraged, but exasperated, more. Exasperated by the state of the game, and exasperated by the game’s level of corruption.

In 2016, Xi announced his football strategy, which sparked a flurry of investment from Chinese private investors in British and European clubs.

With wealthy owners investing money into clubs to finance moves for players like Oscar from Chelsea and Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg, the Chinese Super League (CSL) experienced a resurgence.

Only two Chinese investors currently hold overall control of the professional clubs in England, Dai Yongge’s tenure at Reading and the Fosun International Group’s at Wolverhampton Wanderers, in addition to his financial woes and point-deductions.

And CSL clubs are counting on the cost of their transfer purchases as Guangzhou Evergrande, which was forced into liquidation in January due to unpaid debts, won eight domestic titles and two Asian Champions Leagues between 2011 and 2019.

According to Dr. Gow, “Many entrepreneurs used the China football strategy as a pretext to move money out of China.”

They seized on the fact that there was a national policy because it was very difficult to get your money out of China.

The authorities “came along and said no, this is not what we want you to be doing,” and they kind of closed the door on that outward investment shortly, within a two or three year period.

It is tempting to dismiss Xi’s ambitions now that the number of Chinese investors at European clubs is declining and the men’s national team is still struggling to enter the pitch.

However, those who have spent time there still believe the goals can be met by 2050, with China’s recent improvements in younger age groups.

Dr. Gow advises against underestimating them.