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The East Stand | Xi Jinping’s World Cup dream, tattoo bans and Carlos Tevez: Chinese football in the 2010s
- From corruption scandals at the start of the decade to constant rule changes and military camps
- Big money signings captured the global imagination but China’s national team still languish in the rankings
Reading Time:4 minutes
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As statements go, saying you want China to win the Fifa World Cup is as big as they come.
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That was what then-vice president Xi Jinping did in 2011, when he announced his three dreams for Chinese football: to qualify for, host and then lift a World Cup.
Everything since has been framed inside those dreams, even if the dreams themselves have changed after being put down on paper. The dreams seemed even further off at the start of the decade.
The decade began with a corruption scandal that saw referee Lu Jun suspended and the Chengdu Blades and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical teams relegated from the Chinese Super League, a scandal that necessitated involvement at the very top of the Party. That involvement has only increased under Xi.
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After Xi took over as the general secretary of the CCP in 2012 he announced four “comprehensive” reforms of football, then the General Office of the State Council issued a 50-point plan in 2015 before the Chinese Football Association in 2016 announced their pathway to making China “a first-class football superpower” by 2050. Fifa, of course, turned a blind eye to this government involvement.
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