The Chinese Dream that won't come true

One of several cartoons by an unknown artist that went viral in 2014.

All depict President Xi Jinping as passionate about football.

This one reads: 'Go, football' and 'This dream can surely come true'.

Whenever you ask a Chinese person about the National Football Team (perhaps not a very sensible thing to do anyhow), prepare yourself for a storm of indignation and expletive-ridden tirades. Even mild-mannered people may quickly loose their temper. At least, you will be able to learn a whole lot of colourful new language.

To be blunt:

Yes, the Chinese National Football Team (officially, Zhongguo Guojia Zuqiu Dui) sucks, and considerably so. Dismal performances of the nation's players were and still are so common that the slightly grandiose nicknames Longzhi Dui (Team Dragon) or Wanli Changcheng (Team The Great Wall) seem like a really bad joke.

The greatest accomplishment of the widely denigrated national team remains the successful qualification for the FIFA World Cup in 2002. During the tournament, however, Team China was knocked out without any ado at the group stage, losing all of its three matches while scoring not a single goal.

At the AFC Asian Cup, the results were modest at best so far, and the first international title ever, won at the East Asian Football Championship in 2005, didn't give much cause for prolonged celebrations either.

A brief look at the latest FIFA rankings makes the deplorable status of Chinese football at the international level abundantly clear: the PR China, together with powerhouse Latvia, is ranked at position 96, closely followed by African soccer giant Mozambique (98).

It is just another heavy slap in the faces of the male representatives of The Beautiful Game that the country's Women's Football Team is obviously doing a much better job. Ranked at more than remarkable position 13, the female players are placed right between Norway (12) and Italy (14).

For a football-crazy and extremely proud nation like the Chinese, the Men's National Team is a source of constant embarrassment and much criticism has been directed at the official Chinese Football Association (Zhongguo Zuqiu Xiehui) over the years.

Starting in the early 1990s, a whole bunch of more or less prominent foreign coaches have been shuttled in as much-needed trouble-shooters. But neither Klaus Schlappner (1992-93), Bobby Houghton (1997-99) or Bora Milutinović (2000-02), nor Arie Haan (2002-04), Vladimir Petrović (2007-08) or José Antonio Camacho (2011-13) were able to find a way out of the predicament.

Last year, the French Alain Perrin took over from interim caretaker Fu Bo and hopes are high, again, that the new head coach will manage to form a team that might be finally competitive on the global stage.

It is very unfortunate that football fans who prefer to cheer for clubs in the national Chinese Football Association Super League (Zhongguo Zuqiu Xiehui Chaoji Liansai), instead, aren't much better off, either.

The Super League has been plagued with corruption and mismanagement for many years and match-fixing scandals, illegal betting and referee-bribing have been endemic. According to the latest report by China's official anti-graft watchdog, the situation has not markedly improved. Professional football is still 'underperforming' and 'also has become the breeding ground for malpractices and corruption'.

The top clubs in the Super League may have money galore, some of them rather eccentric owners and often wildly ambitious plans, but what the teams actually deliver on the pitch is another matter.

Costly transfers of foreign luminaries and bold investments are generally a lot more noteworthy than outstanding performances or state-of-the-art tactics. Guangzhou Evergrande, current front runner, for example, has recently made international headlines when China's e-commerce giant Alibaba bought a 50% stake.

And international coverage is also guaranteed whenever an ageing star hailing from European top clubs (think Nicolas Anelka, think Didier Drogba; both had a short intermezzo at Shanghai Shenhua) decides to give China a try at the end of his career.

The reasons for the glaring deficits of Chinese professional football are manifold. There is a general dearth of basic infrastructure, a rigid, high-handed state-run approach, an unholy obsession with quantity rather than quality and an enormous lack of patience.

In addition, an extended grassroots football culture is virtually non-existent and the development across China is highly uneven. Another valid problem is the widespread resistance of parents who are afraid regular football practice could prevent their progeny from achieving the all-important academic success.

Interestingly, President Xi Jinping allegedly declared himself an avid fan of the sport last year. Xi is the guy, you know, who dreams such an awful lot. It is also rumoured that one of his many dreams for China, you may have guessed it, is to win the FIFA World Cup one day.

I suppose it is merely a coincidence that the Ministry of Education announced last summer that it aims to make football mandatory in all four stages of schooling.

If you are inclined, against all odds, to learn more about China's frenzied football scene, check out Wild East Football. This is the most comprehensive English-language site to date and the guys definitely know their stuff.

Another valuable source for football news from the Middle Kingdom is China Sports Insider with its large football section.