Sky Views: China's football failings go right to the top

by Tom Cheshire, Asia correspondent

Huge outdoor screens have taken over the courtyards of Beijing's hutong, the narrow lanes that make up the old city.

Messi and Neymar grin out from posters at bus stops, while on TV, the advertising hoards trumpet Chinese companies, wiht Wanda, Vivo, Yadea and Mengniu Dairy among the brands leaving Western audiences scratching their heads.

With the World Cup in full swing, 100,000 Chinese people are reportedly making the trip to Russia.

There's only one thing missing: the Chinese football team.

China's national side is very, very bad. They have appeared only once at a World Cup, in 2002, when they failed to score a goal and lost every match.

And that was a high point, just by dint of actually making it to the tournament.

In their 2018 qualifying campaign, they lost to Syria, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (although they stuffed Bhutan 12-0).

Their last competitive match, in the East Asian Championship, was a draw with North Korea.

For Chinese people, this under-performance is an embarrassment.

Iceland's recent heroics against Argentina last week prompted admiration here, but also unfavourable comparisons between a population of 330,000 and one of 1.4 billion (I assured my Chinese teacher that we England fans could sympathise on that front).

One scatological cartoon strip doing the rounds on social media here shows the personification of various players and teams at a urinal. Messi and Ronaldo hit the target with style, while the Chinese team soils itself.

The national's team's inadequacies show that for all of China's economic and authoritarian might, its model has its limits.

Four years ago, President Xi Jinping declared China's ambition to be a football "superpower" by 2050 - hosting and hopefully winning a World Cup by then.

In proper Communist Party ruling tradition, he unveiled a 50-point plan that would leverage the full resources of the world's second biggest economy, building 20,000 training centres and 70,000 pitches by 2020 - the same approach the country takes to building airports and mega-cities from scratch, or with its pan-Asian Belt and Road initiative.

That announcement led to huge private investment in the domestic league, with magnates drawing up giant lottery-sized cheques to import European and South American talent.

Players like Oscar and Hulk arrived here for in excess of £50 million each. Marcelo Lippi, the national team coach, earns £18m a year, making him the highest paid manager in the world.

Carlos Tevez was earning £34m when he played for Shanghai Shenua - he called his seven month stint a "holiday".

That financial muscle didn't correspond to national success, though, so the Communist Party ripped up the rules halfway through the season.

Spending restrictions were imposed, including a 100% tax on buying foreign players and a requirement for clubs to field under-23 Chinese players (they did, but they just subbed them off after 15 minutes).

It has left the game in disarray.

Top down micromanagement has worked for China in many areas, but it's a disastrous way to nurture football. The government wants grass roots, but thanks to its heavy handed involvement, they're more like astroturf.

Part of the problem too is a lack of football culture - hardly surprising in a country where the government is nervous about its citizens meeting in large groups.

Also unhelpful is China's authoritarian tendencies in other areas.

For example, this month, the International Federation of Professional Footballers expressed concern over the detention of a 19-year-old player for the national youth team - Erfan Hezim.

Hezim is a Uyghur, a minority increasingly being targeted by Chinese authorities. He was sent to a re-education camp for "visiting foreign countries" after he went abroad to play matches, according to Radio Free Asia.

And the only reason we're seeing such a heavy Chinese commercial presence at this World Cup is because western sponsors deserted FIFA after its corruption scandals.

China had no such qualms and rushed to fill the void - also helping out its pal Russia at the same time.

Despite all that, China has a good chance of qualifying for the next World Cup, in Qatar in 2022 - only because FIFA plans to expand the number of teams participating 32 to 48.

Many suspect that move was introduced specifically for China's benefit.

But if China wants long term football success, it will have to give up some control - and there's little chance of that.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Paste BN editors and correspondents.

Previously on Sky Views: Paul Kelso - Why PM's funding plan is the best deal the NHS can hope for