1b Chinese to watch FIFA World Cup
One billion Chinese soccer fans will pour their hopes and enthusiasm into the World Cup, which kicks off in Russia on Thursday. At the same time, Chinese police are poised to crack down on gambling, drunk driving and fighting that comes every four years with the soccer frenzy.
China’s national team did not qualify for the tournament this year. However, 88 young Chinese soccer players arrived in Moscow on Wednesday to serve as ball boys and assistants during the tournament, the Guangzhou Daily reported on Thursday.
It is estimated that an audience of 1 billion people will watch the game in China, a huge increase over the number who watched the 2014 Brazil World Cup, China News Service reported.
“The time difference between China and Russia is just five hours, so I can
watch most of the games at midnight, no need to stay up late,” Hu Yu, a Beijing soccer fan, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Some Chinese soccer fans are not satisfied with just watching the games on television. About 100,000 Chinese will travel to Russia, said Wang Ying, public relations manager of Ctrip, China’s leading online travel agency.
An ordeal for police
Fan enthusiasm is bigger than ever, but for police, the tournament is an ordeal.
Police have studied the schedule of the World Cup to keep a close eye on drunk driving, violence and game-related gambling.
Police officers in Beijing are confident about their precautions, because they already practiced specialized crackdowns since late May, police said on Thursday on their official Sina Weibo account.
“The battle is on. Beijing police have prepared ‘VIP luxury rooms’ for detainees involved in drunk driving and violence. But we don’t expect many customers,” the police joked in their post.
Aside from busting drunk drivers, police also have to keep an eye on soccer fans who may lose their money on World Cup-related gambling.
During the 2014 Brazil World Cup, a man in Central China’s Hunan Province laid himself down on a railway track, trying to get killed after he lost all his money betting on a game, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
A win for Chinese business
China’s business community is also getting in on World Cup fever.
“Although the Chinese team did not make it to the World Cup, the game is full of Chinese elements [such as sponsors, merchandising, and branding],” Wang Qi, the manager of the China Sports Industry Group and a sports marketing expert, told the Global Times.
Chinese companies Vivo, Hisense Yadea and Dalian Wanda have been buying up and offering ticket packages, news site thepaper.cn reported.
Chinese company Kayford is providing official licensed products, including the World Cup mascot Zabivaka the wolf. Kayford also has exclusive rights to produce and sell official products that include plush toys, cups, key rings and jerseys at its own prices.
Moreover, video-streaming company Youku announced on May 29 that it acquired the rights to broadcast the 2018 World Cup in China.
For the first time, soccer fans in China will be able to watch all 64 matches live on the Youku website, on its mobile and personal computer apps.
With so many Chinese fans in Russia, crawfish, a favorite drinking snack, have already been shipped to Moscow via a China-Europe express train, and will be sold in Russian restaurants and bars.