China to Play Leading Role in 2026 Soccer World Cup in North America!　The “Money Situation” Behind the Surprising Prediction

The World Cup Soccer Tournament in Qatar ended with Argentina’s first victory in 36 years. Japan’s national team, Moriyasu Japan, made a great comeback, and the next World Cup in 2026 (co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico) will have 48 countries, 16 more than in the 2002 tournament. Some people in the know say that this is so that the Chinese team, which has not competed in the tournament since 2002, can participate in the main event.

FIFA and China already have an unlimited “disciplinary relationship” with the vast amount of Chinese money. In Qatar this time, Chinese companies invested nearly $1.4 billion (about 190 billion yen), about twice as much as in the previous tournament, and finally overtook U.S. companies with $1.1 billion (about 146 billion yen) to become the world leader.

For FIFA, China is a country it can’t sleep with its feet up.

At the end of 2015, former FIFA president Blatter, a Swiss national, and several other top officials were suspended after it was discovered that they were involved in corruption cases involving the World Cup bid and broadcasting rights for the continental championships. In response, Emirates Airlines of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), Castrol (U.K.), and Sony Corporation of Japan did not extend their sponsorship contracts because they had expired. The main reason was “FIFA’s failure to take a proactive stance in uncovering this corruption,” according to a source close to the Japanese association. Sony did not renew its sponsorship contract, and other Japanese firms also declined to become sponsors, which quickly plunged FIFA into a financial crisis.

The FIFA sponsorship agreement consists of three pillars. The top category, known as “FIFA Partners,” is strictly a “one company per industry” contract. The second category is the “World Cup Sponsor” (1 to 2.5 billion yen per year), and the third is the “Regional Supporter” (500 million to 1 billion yen per year), which gives priority rights to ticket sales by continent.

China was the first country to invest in FIFA during this crisis. The top category FIFA partner is Dalian Wanda Group, which has signed a major long-term contract from 2016 to 2030. In addition, consumer electronics giant Haisheng Group (Hisense Group) appointed former Japanese national team player Kazu (Tomoyoshi Miura) as its ambassador for the Qatar tournament, and Kazu was able to watch the tournament in Doha. In addition, the smartphone manufacturer vivo and the Mongolian milk industry also supported the Qatar Games.

Chinese companies that were excluded from FIFA’s sponsorship quota due to the one-company-per-industry rule have also invested money in soccer, with Mengniang’s rival, Italy, signing sponsorship contracts with Argentina, Portugal, Spain, and Germany. In addition, IRI has signed personal contracts with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Brazil’s Neymar, two of the world’s top soccer stars.

It has been said that the reason for China’s continued investment in FIFA is that “successive Chinese presidents have been soccer enthusiasts.

I heard that not only Xi Jinping but also Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin have a passion for soccer,” commented Saburo Kawabuchi, founder of Japan’s J-League soccer team. In July of this year, Kawabuchi gave an interview to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

I was surprised when I saw the match against Japan in the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar Games,” he told China’s Xinhua news agency in July. China is weaker than ever,” he said. The reason for this is that “30 years ago, when a professional league was established in China, I said that China would be the first Asian country to win the World Cup. They have many talented players and a large population. But now, we are in this mess. It is not surprising that there was a lot of backlash from within China when he directly stated, “Chinese players are paid the highest salaries compared to Japan and Korea, and they have become complacent with the status quo. You’ve said it well! In fact, however, many people in China were actually cheering for Mr. Kawabuchi, saying, “You’re absolutely right!

In order to further boost the nation’s enthusiasm for soccer, the state-run CCTV (China Central Television) broadcast the Qatar games for free, despite the fact that the Chinese national team did not participate, and there was a great response in the country. Until recently, China had adopted a “zero-corona” policy, which meant that scenes such as cheering without masks that would have been shown on the broadcast were cut out. However, the presence of China is indeed encouraging for FIFA, which is planning a large increase in broadcasting rights fees for the 2026 tournament, which will have 12 more participating countries. The Chinese sports press also dispatched reporters to each national team at the Qatar tournament, and they reported detailed information on Moriyasu Japan.

Nevertheless, many of the stronger nations in Europe and South America have voiced their concerns that the quality of the games will decline (due to the increase in the number of participating nations), and there is also a strong feeling that this is a foolish move to allow the Chinese national team to participate in the tournament. This is because, as Kawabuchi said, the Chinese national soccer team has been failing to qualify for the World Cup since the 2002 tournament, and the more money spent on strengthening the team, the weaker it has become.

It is believed to have benefited the most from the 2026 expansion plan, which will increase the number of slots in the Asian region from 4.5 to 8.5. FIFA President Infantino, who had heard negative comments from the powerful nations, continued to say that “the level of Asian soccer is not low,” and was overjoyed that the three countries of Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia made it to the last 16 in Qatar, saying, “It turned out just as I had hoped.

The Qatar World Cup brought unprecedented amounts of oil money into the World Cup bid. The reality of overworking migrant workers from South Asia and other regions and the issue of gender discrimination also became a major social issue in Europe. Furthermore, during the World Cup, FIFA bought hotels for the families of the national teams and sold them to travel agencies, resulting in higher-than-usual accommodation costs. Even a business hotel in Japan cost more than 30,000 yen per night. In particular, the number of people in Germany who watched the first match against Japan dropped significantly, and interest in the World Cup itself was declining, as we reported on December 22.

On the other hand, China, which has been surrounding FIFA as a national policy since 2015 when corruption by FIFA executives was uncovered, will surely qualify for the next World Cup in 2026 as a “result” of its efforts. If China does qualify, there is a possibility that China will be given more flexibility in the allocation of World Cup tickets and passes for media coverage.

The only way to silence such noise would be for the Chinese national team to demonstrate that it is capable of playing soccer worthy of a World Cup berth.