It doesn’t matter that China didn’t qualify for this Cup. Even if the country’s only participation in a World Cup was in the distant year of 2002. In the 2018 World Cup, more than 660 million Chinese watched the broadcasts of the games. The interest, I suppose, has not waned since then.
The fascination for football is proportional to the frustration with the performance of his men’s national team. The situation is such that the government has expressed the ambition for China to host — and win — a World Cup by 2050. It even naturalized a Brazilian player to lend a hand to the team — Elkeson from Maranhão became Ai Kesen in 2019.
But anyone who thinks that China is not present at the World Cup in Qatar is wrong. It’s just not on the field. Because Chinese companies are willingly involved in competition (and seem to have managed to keep some distance from the problems associated with the conditions of migrant workers).
An 800 megawatt capacity photovoltaic power plant, the first in Qatar, was designed and built by the Chinese Power Construction Corporation in time to meet the needs of the World Cup, based in a country where oil is abundant — and the sun too. The Chinese are taking advantage of the undertaking to burnish their credentials as major suppliers of green technologies.
The Lusail stadium, which will host the championship final, was built by the China Railway Construction Corporation. The image of the arena is now stamped on 10 riyal notes, the local currency. Goal from China.
More than 1,500 buses, 900 of which are electric, were provided by the company Yuton, leader in the sector in the Asian giant, to facilitate mobility during the games. Chinese companies also built around 10,000 container houses in Qatar, providing accommodation for fans.
All this, of course, without mentioning that Chinese companies dominate around 70% of the souvenir market associated with the Cup, such as flags and balls, whistles and trumpets. The Cup is a sign of bonanza, no matter the result, for Dongguan Wagon Giftware, which produces official items. It is also for many smaller companies in Yiwu City, Zhejiang, known as the capital of cheap consumer goods.
The Chinese government helps lay the groundwork for businesses to flourish. A few days ago, Xi attended a summit with Arab countries and another with Gulf nations. With an appetite to buy oil and gas, but also to strengthen the relationship on other fronts, Beijing seeks to occupy space in a region of traditional American influence and which today wants to diversify partners.
Shortly before the start of the games, China sent two pandas to Qatar to “mark the friendship between peoples”. The traditional diplomacy of the pandas remains firm and strong, which gained visibility when Mao presented the US with two huge animals, in recognition of Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China, in 1972. They were a great success at the National Zoo, in Washington. Years later, Deng Xiaoping, realizing the opportunity, would rent pandas to other countries instead of donating them.
This time, the pandas Suhail and Soraya were gifts from Beijing to Doha — with a little thank-you card, perhaps.
China is the only country that, without taking the field, did well in the World Cup. His team is not made up of 11 players, but rather hundreds of companies that, supported by the government, take advantage of trade and investment opportunities linked to the competition. While it is unable to turn its football dreams into reality, the country earns what it can — which is no small feat.
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
