With no team in World Cup, China fans root for Ronaldo, Messi … and a referee

On a sunny day in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighbourhood, punters piled into the fifth floor of Time Out Market to Portugal House – part food court, part bar, full-blown World Cup party.
The room was awash with Portuguese team jerseys, filled with fans sipping cold beer and soft drinks, proudly singing Portugal’s national anthem before their match against DR Congo.
“Hopefully, one day I can sing the Chinese national song in a World Cup stadium,” said Zhai Yibo, a 20-year-old Chinese student studying in London who was watching the game in Brooklyn.
Among the hundreds of thousands of fans who travelled to North America for the World Cup are countless Chinese supporters. Yet while China remains one of the world’s largest football markets, its presence at the tournament is largely confined to the stands.
Twenty-four years after its only World Cup appearance, the national team once again failed to qualify for this year’s showpiece, leaving fans to celebrate football’s biggest event while watching other countries compete.

The United States, Canada, and Mexico are jointly hosting this year’s World Cup, with 48 countries competing in games across 16 cities. It is the first North American World Cup since 1994 and the first to be hosted by the three nations together.
Supporters at Portugal House were here to watch Cristiano Ronaldo, who, at age 41, would surely be playing in his last World Cup. Just five minutes down the road lies the Adidas fan zone; their free tickets had already sold out for the day. Its spot – right under the Brooklyn Bridge – was packed full of tourists and locals alike.
Zhai was in New York City for just three days, describing the atmosphere as “amazing”. He found himself with French supporters in Times Square, at a Senegalese community hall in Little Senegal and across the river, in Brooklyn, at Portugal House.
He turned to ChatGPT to decide where to watch Senegal play France on his first full day in the country. “Even though they [Senegal] lost, the atmosphere was electric; it’s going to be a very unforgettable experience for me.”
Zhai has been a football fan since the 2014 Fifa World Cup, when he was still in primary school, and has long dreamed of experiencing the World Cup atmosphere in person.
Why Chinese fans can’t get enough of Messi, Ronaldo
For many Chinese supporters, allegiance is built around star players rather than national teams. Messi and Ronaldo have cultivated enormous followings in China over the past two decades, helping sustain one of the world’s largest football audiences despite the struggles of the domestic game.
According to Fifa figures, more than 70,000 fans attended the Dallas Stadium on Monday to watch the group-stage match between Argentina and Austria.
In that match, Lionel Messi scored twice, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history.
Argentina’s largest fan base worldwide is arguably in China, and among the supporters wearing blue-and-white striped shirts on Monday were numerous Chinese fans, including Jane Kan, who had flown in from Amsterdam.
The 23-year-old university student described the match as “one of the most memorable days of my life”.
Kan spoke highly of the facilities and volunteers in Dallas, but she said the organisers were clearly ill-prepared for the fans’ huge demand for souvenirs.
Kan said she saw “a large number of Chinese fans” at the stadium, which made her feel that if the Chinese team qualified for the World Cup, the scene would be even more spectacular.

Yet, despite all the enthusiasm of Chinese football fans in North America right now, that scene seems like a distant dream.
The last time China made the World Cup was in 2002. Their scoreless appearance 24 years ago was followed by even more dismal attempts, during which the Chinese team failed to reach the tournament.
Their repeated failures stand in stark contrast to Beijing’s ambitions. Chinese President Xi Jinping, a self-described football fan, has long championed plans to transform China into a global football power, with official goals that once included hosting and eventually winning a World Cup.
For many, the disappointment with Chinese football stems not only from the national team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup yet again, but also from the inability to maintain a professional and trustworthy football infrastructure.
Corruption within the sport, as well as betting and match-fixing scandals, have been exposed time and again.
Zhai said that the Chinese national team’s performance in the Asian qualifiers, where they failed to advance, was “disappointing,” but even if the team had, “with some good luck”, made it to the World Cup, it would have been difficult for them to win a single match.
With no team in the competition, Chinese representation has largely fallen on the shoulders of one man.
This year, fans from China have turned their attention to Ma Ning, the Chinese referee, who is the country’s biggest export at this year’s tournament.

The 2026 World Cup is the 47-year-old’s second finals appearance, after fulfilling fourth-official duties at the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“We are so proud of him, and we are looking forward to seeing his best performance on the field,” said Zhai, calling him the best Chinese referee of all time.
Pride is mixed with criticism from Chinese fans, with Zhai saying he will “always be criticised for what he did in the Chinese Super League”.
Ma has long divided Chinese fans with his strict, card-heavy officiating style and several contentious decisions in high-profile Chinese Super League matches and international games.
On Saturday, Ma officiated as the referee in Ecuador’s 0-0 draw with Curacao, while two other Chinese referees, Zhou Fei and Fu Ming, served as assistant referee and video assistant referee (VAR) respectively.
Ma issued a total of six yellow cards during the match, briefly making it a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
State media praised the performance of the Chinese referees, describing them as calm and professional, and saying that they had earned widespread recognition.

Ma is also expected to serve as the fourth official for several matches, assisting the referee from the touchline.
Yet away from the pitch, the tournament has brought a different set of anxieties for some Chinese fans: high ticket prices, visa concerns and safety.
Zhai missed the first two rounds of ticket sales this year, so he had to start searching online for resale tickets in March. In the end, he bought a ticket for the upper deck for nearly US$900 – more than three times the original price.
He said that Fifa’s pricing for tickets to this World Cup was “excessive”. Even though he is flying with low-cost carriers and staying in hostels, his estimated expenses for this World Cup trip will still come to nearly US$4,000.
Trump administration’s immigration crackdown makes life difficult for fans
Travel to the World Cup comes amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on both illegal and legal immigration, which has seen several high-profile cases where tourists were detained and denied entry at the border since the president returned to office. Visitors to the US from China are mostly on B1/B2 visas, which have to be obtained in advance.
While he had heard horror stories of people getting denied visas at the border, Zhai was not asked any questions upon arrival.
He headed to Philadelphia next, then went to Dallas to meet a school friend to attend the Argentina v Austria game. Next, he will head to Mexico solo before returning to the UK in early July.
In early June, Chinese embassies and consulates in America issued a reminder to travellers, urging them to travel safely and to view the planned matches civilly.
An education influencer from China and his partner were allegedly robbed at gunpoint in Mexico after touching down for a World Cup game, with his story going viral on Chinese social media Douyin.
The fans, surnamed Wang and Li, were reportedly robbed of cash, passports, and luxury watches, among other valuables, close to Mexico City airport. One suspect had been arrested in the case, according to Xinhua, citing information from the Chinese embassy in Mexico.
Despite safety scares, high costs and political concerns, the love of football and the draw of the World Cup remains a pull for those passionate about the game.
Chad, a football fan from China, said he has attended more than 30 World Cup matches since 2018.
This year is expected to be the last World Cup for Messi and Ronaldo, so Chad decided to go and watch them in person again.
But this year’s World Cup ticket prices are “the most expensive,” he said, adding that buying tickets and planning the trip was also very troublesome because the host cities are far apart.
He “got lucky” and bought a final match ticket at face value, thus avoiding spending over US$20,000 on a resale ticket, Chad said.
This will be Chad’s first visit to the United States, and he will take the opportunity to drive across the East and West coasts for a month.
“As long as you like football and enjoy the atmosphere, I think spending a lot of money to watch it is totally reasonable,” Chad said.
He’s hoping Portugal will win this year’s title because “Cristiano Ronaldo is a very hardworking and disciplined player, and I hope he achieves this happy ending.”