In 2011, the Chinese President Xi Jinping, dreamt of a Chinese national football team: “participating in a World Cup,” “hosting the World Cup,” and, most ambitiously, “becoming World Cup champions”. But after years of investment into the Chinese domestic league, racking up billions of dollars of debt in the process, the positivity of half a decade earlier has evaporated almost as soon as it appeared. Why did the president want to develop football? Was he overly ambitious? And what has happened t

Shao Jiayi named head coach of the China men's team