No matter where the FIFA is holding a World Cup， the largest fan base by far isfoundinChina，spendinga monthasgluedto theTVevery day， athome，inrestaurants， in public places.China is crazy about football. I meet many people in China who know by name the
players of all sorts of clubs in Italy， Spain， Germany， England. Only by their respective Chinese names， that is， thus the German national player Schweinsteiger is simply called “Xiao zhu” (小猪) which would about correspond to his German nickname “Schweini”，
i. e. “Piggy”， because the transmission of the name， Schweinsteiger， into Chinese is too complicated. The Chinese give to any foreigner a name that plugs into the Chinese linguistic system of syllables. Thus the name of the player Lahm is rendered “LaMu”， (拉姆) L.w becomes “LeFu”， (勒夫) Klose will be “KeLuoZe” (克洛泽). There is simply no word or syllable that would end in “m” or “f ” (the way the “w” in L.w’s name is pronounced in German)， Chinese cannot at all pronounce a term like “Lahm”.
They observe the European football leagues； CCTV 5 broadcasts on weekends plenty of live games and even more summaries and comments， my friends know more about the league than me， even in the German Federal league they can assign more players to their respective clubs than I do.
When the 2006 World Cup began in Germany， in China all hell broke loose. There was no restaurant， no public square where the World Cup was not celebrated 24 hours a day. Whenever we visited clients， and no matter where – whether in the evening in the restaurant or somewhere on the road or in a “pub” (if you can call them like that in China)， we were glued to the live broadcast or a repeat or a match analysis， whatever there was. And the Chinese people bet like mad， asking me on what they should bet. How should I know the outcome？ I am not an octopus and my name isn’t Paul.
Who (other than hard-core football fans) would watch in Germany a game like Paraguay vs. Trinidad & Tobago？ Who would watch the game if Germany was not even represented at the World Cup (as China wasn’t). In China， though， the restaurants are crowded， every good action is clamantly commented， any missed goal registered with disappointment – for either side.
My friends have watched more football games than I， beginning at night (e.
g. midnight or 3 o’clock in the morning). During the semi-finals and final， I was fortunately in Germany. When we get together on weekends during a World Cup， there is only one topic： the World Cup.
When Germany lost in the semifinals against Italy， the whole of China was over the moon， for the Italian national team is very popular， for Chinese football aficionados， the Italian football league is a prime focus of interest. Germany is not popular but respected and recognised. Italy is loved. I received half-baked compassion.
When Germany turned out third， I received kind and gentle good wishes， telling me I should not fret too much， the Germans had been outstanding， just not quite enough， for Italy had been simply unbeatable. When Italy won the world championship， China was euphoric. No matter at all that Italy played poorly and rather was the luckier one....
During the Euro 2008， it was not very different. The Chinese bet， watched all the games， even in the middle of the night while I restricted myself to those in the evening and to the summaries of the night time games in the morning， during breakfast.
But now the World Cup 2010 is held in South Africa. First， I think that the football craze has lessened， there seem to sit fewer people in the restaurants in front of the TV now， but I am wrong. It’s the preliminary round games， such as Algeria vs. Slovenia which this time do not tear the Chinese off their feet. But in truth they are electrically stimulated， want to know everything， and research everything on any team on any website.
As North Korea loses 1-2 vs. Brazil， immediately a lament is struck up： North Korea has at least scored a goal against Brazil！ And China， 2002 in Korea， how badly had this gone？ And then everything is getting compared what China and North Korea ever achieved against any team in the world， or didn’t.
There is a website where all this is related – and it ends with a joke： ‘Stop insulting North Korea！’ For how can you compare a football giant like North Korea with that football dwarf， China？
“The” Chinese (at least the ones I know) are not at all interested in Chinese domestic football， not even in the national team. They do not expect anything. There are web pages containing lists of potential pretexts for coaches and players (and media) for why this next game was lost as well and what was to the disadvantage of the Chinese team with regard to the opponent： “The grass was too high/low/wet/dry” – “The kick-off was too early/late” – “The weather was too hot/cold/dry/wet” – “Most surprisingly， the opposing team has allowed player XY to play， who could have foretold that？” and more of the funniest， meaningless excuses. There are lists of what luxury cars the national players and their wives or girlfriends are driving， and there are polls on whether it wouldn’t be better if the players were sent into a coal mine to mine coal， because they were surely better off there. In chat rooms people debate (hundreds of thousands of people get their pleasure out of it) how it could be arranged that the Chinese national team took part but once in the World Cup finals. The proposal was made to convince FIFA that a place was conceded to Antarctica， next， China must somehow manage to be admitted to the Antarctic play-offs. Then， in the first leg in Antarctica， the Chinese team must achieve a draw versus the team of penguins， and then， in the return match in China， the penguins could possibly be beaten， ideally during the sweltering hot summer in southern China. There are fervent debates whether this cunning plan could be implemented...