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Road to World Cup 26 - Asia - AFC Review
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Road to World Cup 26 Podcast - Your Definitive Guide to World Cup 26
Join Ken Davies and Nick Britten for your definitive guide to all things World Cup 26
Each week we'll take the deepest of dives into everything leading up to kick off in June 2026.
If you want to be the water-cooler expert in all things World Cup - you've just found your favorite podcast.
World Cup 2026 will be a Festival of football - with 48 teams completing for the ultimate prize - 104 matches over 56 days - with all the excitement, romance and jeopardy that the World Cup always brings - but on a much bigger scale.
Hosted in Mexico, Canada and the US - It's the pinnacle of the global soccer calendar
Email the show with your questions at : roadtoworldcup26@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to World Cup Qualification
00:00:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome, welcome, welcome, wherever you are in the world to road to World Cup 26, number five, I think it is. And this week we are in Asia.
00:00:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, you'll know this is your weekly deep dive down the rabbit hole of World Cup qualification. But just to mix metaphors, imagine yourself for a moment in a huge river.
00:00:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we're starting at each of the tributaries of that huge river as we enter the whole world of football. eventually leads to the beautiful open seas of the World Cup final.
00:00:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
And navigating us through all those little tributaries is the captain of that ship, Nick Britton. are you doing, Nick?
00:01:00
Nick Britten
ah Very well. Thank you very much, Ken.
Asian Qualification Process
00:01:02
Nick Britten
I'm very well, very excited to get stuck into Asia ah because we did Oceana last week, which was tiny, and we're really going to the other end of the spectrum because the Asia qualification process is pretty vast.
00:01:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh.
00:01:16
Nick Britten
It's pretty extreme, and there are a lot of teams in it.
00:01:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's complicated. ah i had tried to have a go at it earlier last week just to understand the qualification process and how the ah AFC is put together. But I yeah hadn't completed my PhD in string theory at that point.
00:01:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
I now have completed my PhD in thing string theory or thingstriery, and I now feel qualified to do it.
00:01:40
Nick Britten
yeah you're probably better at that you're probably better at that excellent well i'm looking for very much looking forward to uh to hearing all this in that case
00:01:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okie dokie. Shall I kick off by giving an overview as to what the AFC, is that right, the Asian confederate Football Confederation?
00:02:02
Nick Britten
no afc africa so yeah this is asia we're looking at this week
00:02:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think it
00:02:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes. a And I can talk you through all the member states, how they all fit together and how qualification works.
00:02:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
And this, ladies and gentlemen, you will need to sit down and make sure you've got absolutely no distractions because it's complicated.
Detailed AFC Qualification Rules
00:02:25
Nick Britten
might want a stiff drink at the same time if I'm honest because this could go home for quite a while
00:02:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is, but it'll be worth it in the end because next time you're at the water cooler and somebody brings up, hey, what's happening in the qualification Asia? You can take him through all the weeds you possibly want to.
00:02:42
Nick Britten
but you can indeed you can indeed and not only that but coming up later in the show after Ken has done his marathon rap of of the qualification process we're looking at We're looking at Japan because they've been the first team to qualify out of the group. We are looking at China and what's gone wrong there because they wanted to become a global superpower in football in the same way that they are a global superpower in lots of other things. But it's been a dismal and utter failure. And we like, as you know by now, dear listener, as you know, we like to focus football.
00:03:13
Nick Britten
on one of our smaller nations, on one of our smaller and less successful nations. And this week we're having a deep dive into Guam. So stay tuned, because if you want to know everything about the um qualification process, if you like, from Asia, well, you've got to know about Guam as well, because that is one of the most interesting stories in the whole of this qualification federation.
00:03:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, i'm looking forward to that. And a deep dive in Guam sounds fantastic, doesn't it?
00:03:40
Nick Britten
It does, doesn't it?
00:03:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
sounds idyllic.
00:03:41
Nick Britten
It sounds very chilled. Maybe we should go to Guam and have a bit of deep diving, Ken.
00:03:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:03:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Definitely. Okay. Looking forward to that. Okay. So, okay, here goes, sit down, make yourself cup of tea, get yourself a biscuit. Asia, the Asia football conference has 46 member countries.
00:04:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now already someone's going to be putting the hand up in the North Mariana islands and say, well, what about us? It's 47. Well, well Yeah, strictly speaking, the North Mariana Islands are included in AFC, but they're excluded in relation to the FIFA qualification for the World Cup.
00:04:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Don't quite know why that is. I'm going do some more digging on that, but they're not included. So let's ignore them. So in Asia, it split the AFC into five sub-regions, Central, East, South, Southeast and West.
00:04:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
And as you know, on this podcast, we like to make sure everybody's named on this. So we're going through each one of them. In the central region, there's six of them. Afghanistan, Iran, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
00:04:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
In the east, there's nine. China, Chinese Taipei, the Democratic, not so in brackets, Republic of Korea, Guam, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong to me and you, Japan, Korea, Macau, and Mongolia.
00:05:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's where the north marian is are the North Mariana Island should be, but they're not. In the south, there's seven. That's Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
00:05:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
In the southeast, there's 12. Australia had that, Brunei, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
00:05:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
And in the West, which doesn't really feel like Asia at all, there's 12. Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
00:05:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Add all them together, you get 46 because we're not talking about the North Mariana Islands. What about the South Mariana Islands? Just raising it. They just don't even get mentioned.
00:06:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Anyway, that must be quite a derby. Can you imagine the Mariana Islands derby, North v South?
00:06:12
Nick Britten
we like todo we we we like We like to have our have our federation
00:06:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
We love a random derby.
00:06:17
Nick Britten
and we yeah
00:06:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
So there are your 46 teams. So remember, going right back, that Asia gets eight direct spots and one spot in the international playoffs.
Challenges in Qualification
00:06:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
So now we've got somehow get to from 46 to eight.
00:06:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
And 46 doesn't go into eight or eight doesn't go into 46. So it gets complicated to get there. So here we go. This is what happens first. In the first bit of qualification, the 20 teams ranked 27th to 46th in Asia.
00:06:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
So the bottom 20. Playoff, in a playoff round, home and away, the winners, there are 10 of them. Great. So we've got 10. We add then 10 to the teams ranked 1 to 26.
00:07:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
And hey, presto, you've got now thirty six Now, eight just still doesn't go into 36. So what do we do from there? Those 36 teams are divided into nine groups of four teams. Stop laughing, Nick.
00:07:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
I know there's going to be questions at the end of this.
00:07:23
Nick Britten
we've got We've only got two minutes of this segment left.
00:07:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
and I'm peddling as fast as I can.
00:07:27
Nick Britten
ill just
00:07:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
So those 36 teams are divided into nine groups of four teams. So they play home and away. And from that, you get nine winners and you get nine runners up. Hurrah, we're there.
00:07:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, we're not there.
00:07:39
Nick Britten
and
00:07:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're not there. So we've got 18 teams left. Then they're divided into three groups of six. So now you've got three groups of six.
00:07:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
The top two from each of those groups. No, you've got three groups of six. Yeah, so the top two from each of those three groups are. They're going to the World Cup. There's six teams going to World Cup. Thank God.
00:08:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, so we've got six sorted. Then the sixth, third and fourth round, the best placed third and fourth rounders, they end up in two groups of three.
00:08:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
And they play once at a centralized venue. It's not home and away. And therefore you get two winners. And those two winners are added to the six that got through last time. And there's your eight direct qualifiers.
00:08:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hurrah. Praise the Lord.
00:08:32
Nick Britten
andpress
00:08:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
String theories work. But it's not finished. It's not finished because there's a fifth round. And the fifth round is the runners up in them two groups.
00:08:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
So you've only got two teams. They play off home and away, two legs, and the winner gets the playoff berth.
00:08:45
Nick Britten
Oh, yeah, it's a pretty poor team
00:08:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
There we go. That is qualification in a nutshell in Asia.
00:08:52
Nick Britten
team.
00:08:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
No one else will be able to explain that like I've just done.
00:08:56
Nick Britten
I'll tell you what, that was... it
00:08:58
Nick Britten
No, and if you are listening, please can you ah pop all of that back on ah but on the back of a postcard and send it back to us, because I want to know whether you've listened and you've understood that. ah By the time you get around to round five, ah the teams that are left haven't really got much hope, have they?
00:09:12
Nick Britten
they go Do they go into the um the main FIFA qualification playoff tournament, as it's called this year, isn't it?
00:09:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, round five, the winner of that goes into the inter-confederation thing together with another so another five teams and two of that emerges.
00:09:20
Nick Britten
Yeah, Inter-Confederation tournament, for this cor of it yeah Yeah.
00:09:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
um My only worry with a complicated system are that, it might not finish by the time of the World Cup.
00:09:26
Nick Britten
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:31
Nick Britten
It does feel like they've added on some unnecessary extra layers into that that just don't need to be there, doesn't it?
00:09:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
I just think there's a great opportunity there with nine teams right at the start that have won through.
00:09:38
Nick Britten
There's just too many games.
00:09:41
Nick Britten
yeah by a time you get By the time you get to the playoff, whoever gets to that final FIFA playoff, they've played a whole season of football through qualifying games.
00:09:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Somehow, have one of them relegated the bottom one to the playoffs and put the other eight through? Anyway.
00:09:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Honestly, be but theres I think there's about 12 games involved.
00:09:58
Nick Britten
That's... okay Yeah, I know.
00:10:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Crazy.
00:10:03
Nick Britten
know. Absolutely.
00:10:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Anyway, there you go. That's the Asian Confederation explained.
00:10:04
Nick Britten
Anyway, there we are. Well done. No, well done. Well done. Well done. we um and No, good effort, mate. Good effort. Good effort. Anyway, how's qualification going?
00:10:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you
00:10:11
Nick Britten
Let's have a quick look at at how qualification is going. And before I start, I must um must say this to our Japanese listeners And what i must say to our Japanese listeners is gomen nasai.
00:10:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah ka meet you up
00:10:26
Nick Britten
Gomen nasai. And I'm taking a bow whilst I'm doing it. Because I owe our Japanese listeners a bit of an apology, because last week I said that New Zealand... were the first team outside the host countries to qualify for next year's World Cup, when it turns out that 24 hours earlier, Japan had.
00:10:42
Nick Britten
So Japan were, in fact, the... It's just a FIFA website, and I'll blame... ah but as ah As any bad word would do, I'll blame my tools. The website hadn't been updated when I looked at it. So um my apologies to Japan, and but also my congratulations, because you are the first team...
00:10:59
Nick Britten
outside the host countries to qualify for the World Cup. And it's worth spending a couple of moments looking at Japan, and we'll do that in just a moment, because they could be, Kenny, they could be one of the dark horses here to progress far and deep into the tournament. They've dominated the Asia Federation ah for for years now, um and they've they've won Group C here with three games to spare. They've walked it.
00:11:20
Nick Britten
They've walked it. So Japan are through already. ah Joining them a few days later was Iran, who have won Group A, and Iran have also qualified.
Key Matches and Teams
00:11:28
Nick Britten
And it looks like the winner of the third group, as you so well explained here, is going to be the Korea Republic. um And they're looking for a record 11th consecutive World Cup appearance.
00:11:38
Nick Britten
They feature one of my favourite English Premier League players, Hoomin Song, who I think is a brilliant player at Tottenham. They've struggled a little bit of late with three consecutive draws and surprising ones, including a really surprising one with Palestine, one all there.
00:11:53
Nick Britten
And there's been a little bit of angst around Korea. But they're three points ahead of Jordan. and four points ahead of Iraq, who are in third in that group. um They've only got two games to play.
00:12:04
Nick Britten
One of them will be against Iraq, so that might be interesting. That's in Basra, which is a very hostile footballing environment. So um that's going to be interesting. But their other remaining home game is against Kuwait, and they're bottom of the league, and they're not going to lose both games. so
00:12:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
no
00:12:19
Nick Britten
So I'm expecting South Korea to to finish top of groups ah sub Group go through, along with Iran and Japan, as group winners. um In terms of the next stage, the next teams for the automatic spots, then, um we're looking at Australia.
00:12:35
Nick Britten
Now, here's an interesting one, because Australia are second in Group C with 13 points, and Saudi are third with 10 points. the next home The next games are both in June.
00:12:48
Nick Britten
Australia have got to go to June, got to play Japan.
00:12:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
la
00:12:51
Nick Britten
And that isn't going to be easy.
00:12:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:12:53
Nick Britten
That isn't going to be easy. Now, Japan might have taken a foot off the gas, but I think Japan would want to carry on that.
00:12:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah.
00:12:57
Nick Britten
So you've got to you've got to favour Japan in that, which could leave Australia with 13 points. ah Saudi go to Bahrain. Now, you'd expect them to win that game. So they can go into 13 points.
00:13:08
Nick Britten
and So they could both be into going into their last qualifying game on 13 points. And guess what? They play each other.
00:13:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, where?
00:13:16
Nick Britten
They play each other.
00:13:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
In Australia or in Saudi Arabia?
00:13:18
Nick Britten
this So it's going to be a proper call ah it could be a proper qualification shootout, that one game, between Australia and Saudi Arabia as to who goes through.
00:13:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:13:28
Nick Britten
So that that's really, really one thing.
00:13:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
And is that in Australia, Nick, or is that in Saudi?
00:13:33
Nick Britten
um That will be... Let me have a look now because I think that'll be Saudi.
00:13:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it would make sense.
00:13:39
Nick Britten
yeah i think i think that I think... I don't quote me on that. I haven't looked. But I think on the basis that saudi Saudi's next game is away in Bahrain, I expect them to be their home in the last one. And I think Australia played Japan at home.
00:13:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
That... not that
00:13:50
Nick Britten
So that could interesting. um And a couple of other stories on this. In Group A, Uzbekistan looked nailed on to finish second in qualifying. And that'll be their first ever appearance at a World Cup finals.
00:14:01
Nick Britten
So we talked right at the start of our podcast, didn't we, Ken, about... the expanded tournament and allowing more teams in well here's a great example because uzbekistan would not normally qualify for a world cup finals but looks like very much they're going to do so you know good luck to them and in group b it's going to be either iraq or jordan we shall wait and see on that so
00:14:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
knowing it.
00:14:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Jordan, a bit of the surprise package. I looked at the top eight, Japan, Iran, Korea, Australia, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Saudi, and Iraq.
00:14:24
Nick Britten
right
00:14:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
No Jordan. ah So Jordan being, I think, second in their group at the moment is maybe they're the surprise package of the qualification process there.
00:14:39
Nick Britten
Yes, they are. They are. And again, it'd be very interesting to see if like if they get through. So still some stuff to play for there in ah in and the Asian qualification. Next game, like they are everywhere across the federations, are in June. So look forward to that.
00:14:55
Nick Britten
Right, a very quick look before we move on. very quick look at Japan, so i think it's worth worth flagging this, because I think Japan could do well here. And there is a growing sense in the country that they are about to achieve something, because they've been unbeaten for 20 games.
00:15:07
Nick Britten
ah stretching back to 2022.
00:15:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
wow
00:15:10
Nick Britten
um And they've qualified for every single World Cup since they first qualified for one, which was in 1998. So they're building and building and building. um And they've struggled on the world stage traditionally, but they are they are getting better. So if you think back to the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022, they beat Germany and they beat Spain, and they reached the round of 16 in the last two tournaments. so One of the reasons why they're suddenly so successful is because they've got a really, really strong European contingent now.
00:15:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, they do.
00:15:41
Nick Britten
Their top players are playing at the top clubs in Europe. And I've just picked out three of them, but I could go more, but picked out three. Three real key players to look out for here. but One is Kari Mitomo, who plays for Brighton in the Premier League in England.
00:15:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Great player.
00:15:57
Nick Britten
And this season he started 26 games. He's got seven goals and three assists. um Another is ah Takafusa Kubo, who plays for Real Sociedad. He's a winger there, plays on the right.
00:16:10
Nick Britten
And he came through the famed youth system at Barcelona. So he's got really, really good good pedigree. And he spent most of his career in Spain, Real Madrid, Villarreal,
00:16:21
Nick Britten
He's currently at Rosesio Down, as I said, so he's got great pedigree, um as has Hiroko Ito, who's a centre-half at Bayern. Only 25 years old, so he's really entering his prime.
00:16:31
Nick Britten
Incredibly highly thought of and very, very highly rated. He's valued around €30 million euros at the moment. um So there are three key players to look at. um Followers of the English Premier League will know Daichi Kamada at Palace, Watoru Endu, who's the Japan captain.
00:16:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:16:47
Nick Britten
He plays for Liverpool, although he hasn't started a single Premier League game this season. ah But he has been a sub 14 times and he's played in the cup competitions. Takumi Minamino, who, of course, played for Liverpool and Southampton in the Premier League. And he's now with Monaco.
00:17:04
Nick Britten
And it's become such an extent, this European base that the manager, Hajime Moriasu, has openly floated the idea of having a really big central base in Europe so that he can keep a much closer eye on his players because that's where they're all playing.
00:17:21
Nick Britten
um The average age of the squad at the moment is just under 27, so they'll be just under 28 when they but they kick off, which is a great, great age. FIFA ranking is 15. It has been as high as nine and in 1998, but it's a very respectable 15 at the moment.
00:17:39
Nick Britten
and And it's the highest they've been in the world ranking since 2011. But the overall sense here, Ken, the overall sense is that they are, they're really on the up.
00:17:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
Japan's World Cup Prospects
00:17:50
Nick Britten
They're really on the up. And if they got to the quarterfinals of the World Cup next year, ah don't think it would be a surprise to too many people who know about Japan.
00:17:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
What's your prediction? where do you think What round do you think Japan will appear in?
00:18:02
Nick Britten
um I'm going for it. I'm going for it. I'm going... Well, I think they'll certainly get around to the 32.
00:18:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
oh no question.
00:18:10
Nick Britten
And I think they might get through to the last 16th.
00:18:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah, I think so. I think actually it could be further than that. I could get them through to the last the round of eight, to be honest. I think there that they've just got that strength in depth. It's always eluded them in the past, I think. And so much, another four years experience of playing at the highest levels.
00:18:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think they could be a real force. I'm really interested in seeing how Japan do. And Korea. I've always got a soft spot for Korea, but i think Japan just looked like a real force. Right. This podcast, Road to World Cup 26, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. Only network bringing you exclusive daily news and views on Premier League teams, but also lots of other amazing content as well.
00:18:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
And here at Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner in that particular qualification process.
00:19:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it wasn't as complicated, have to say, as the Asian one. 4K video recording from your phone, AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs and silly mistakes that we all make.
00:19:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. If you're ready to tell your story, Make sure you check out the link in the show description. Learn more about Zencast. Just one other thing to mention about before we move on to other things.
00:19:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're enjoying Road to World Cup 26, I hope you are. We are massively enjoying putting it together for you. Well, you can like or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts because that will help other people find Road to World Cup 26.
00:19:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
six Nikolai, what's next on the agenda?
China's Football Struggles
00:19:49
Nick Britten
Well, I'd like to have a look a very quick look at one of the teams who – we've talked about Japan, haven't we? And they are very much on the road to success. Going very quick in the opposite direction is it's a really interesting story, in this, because they are an economic powerhouse. They are a global – you know, real global powerhouse in pretty much everything they do, and yet they are a footballing backwater.
00:20:12
Nick Britten
And that's China. And I'd like to spend a couple of minutes thinking about what on earth has gone wrong in China, in terms of Chinese
00:20:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
think where They had strategies to create super team. They had millions of kids going to special schools purely devoted to soccer.
00:20:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
And they were i mean their their league system was a very well-funded league system. But it just kind of seemed disappeared off the radar.
00:20:42
Nick Britten
Well, we all remember, don't we, the the launch of the Chinese Super League and the massive fanfare. It's not, listen, let's face it, that's now happening, but it's happening in Saudi instead with the Pro League.
00:20:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:51
Nick Britten
It's a very similar thing. And I'll tell you what, right now, the Saudi Pro League should be looking at what's going on in China and learning the lessons of what's happened with the Chinese Super League and, indeed,
00:21:02
Nick Britten
China in in general. But we remember all of that. And indeed, when, you know, 2010s 2015, the Chinese Super League was just huge.
00:21:13
Nick Britten
I mean, it was getting billions of pounds worth of revenue, massive sponsorship through state ownership.
00:21:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:21:19
Nick Britten
And indeed, um when in 2012, the chairman, Xi Jinping, do you remember him? and When he came to power, said that
00:21:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, yeah. Chairman Penn.
00:21:29
Nick Britten
He wanted he wanted to to make China, he wanted to host the World Cup, but he wanted China to win the World Cup. that was his That was his dream.
00:21:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:37
Nick Britten
yeah has It hasn't happened. And it hasn't happened for a number of years, and sorry, for a number of reasons.
00:21:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
No. No.
00:21:42
Nick Britten
And 13 years later from when that bold statement was made, and it looked like it might happen as the Super League grew and grew and grew, it's collapsed, and it's collapsed in the most dramatic of fashions.
00:21:52
Nick Britten
and I pulled out three key reasons why it's all gone wrong. The first one is political interference. Now, we all know that football and politics does not mix.
00:22:03
Nick Britten
And there have been lots and lots of examples around the world where political and interference with a nation's footballing federation has ended in tears. And none more so, though, than here in China.
00:22:15
Nick Britten
Because China's Communist Party...
00:22:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've covered a lot of them on this podcast. Every week we seem to talk about political interference in in one team or another.
00:22:18
Nick Britten
but
00:22:23
Nick Britten
Absolutely, absolutely. But China's Communist Party... controls every aspect of life and it works in lots of things let's face it it's ah it's a real global economic power leading you've got electronics electrical equipment machinery textiles they they are they do an amazing job in terms of exports and they've got sporting dominance it's not the alien to sporting success so if you think of the olympic sports that they're so you they're so good at table tennis and badminton martial arts um they're growing in the winter sports arena
00:22:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:22:56
Nick Britten
ah But there's a crucial there's ah's there's a crucial bit to that, and that bit is this. but think If you think of all the sports, and particularly the ones I've just mentioned, they're all individual sports. They're not team games. They're individual players and individual athletes that they can invest heavily in.
00:23:15
Nick Britten
doesn't cost as much money as investing in a massive infrastructure like a whole football league where you've got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people.
00:23:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:22
Nick Britten
hello But it's thrown a lot of money at soccer and it's and it's and it's consistently failed. And that's one of the reasons is the Chinese government pushes for instant success and everything it does so you mentioned a little bit earlier on about getting all these kids to play football and play football and play football but actually what it wants is instant success so they've chucked loads and loads of money out it but there's no there's no sort of pyramid in in Chinese football so in the UK for example in Europe and and and South America there's grassroots football so kids start playing from the age of five and they play grassroots competitive football
00:23:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:23:54
Nick Britten
all the way up to adulthood, which gives them a great grounding in in competitive professional football.
00:24:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:24:00
Nick Britten
In China, they don't have that system. They don't have a pyramid. It's a top-down system whereby they're just expected to be able to be brilliant at football from the age of 15, 20, whatever. And, of course, they're not because they've not got any history of it. um So it's that instant success model which fails, and it's always failed in football wherever it's gone.
00:24:18
Nick Britten
um The political interference means that the big decisions around football are being made by politicians for political reasons and not by football people, you know, for for football reasons. so um And therefore, that long-term development that is so important in football just doesn't happen because they're not interested in throwing money at something that might be a success 30 years' time or 20 years' time, even. They just don't care. They just want its success now and we'll throw money at it.
00:24:44
Nick Britten
And it just it just hasn't happened. So we haven't really seen that building up of academies. We haven't seen that building up of of the football pyramid of grassroots. And thus it becomes very much a house built on sand. So political interference is number one reason.
00:24:57
Nick Britten
ah Number two is economic weakening. So of course, China's huge economic downturn has had a major impact on soccer because the state owns a lot of the clubs and it funds a lot of the clubs. And during the boom years of the the Chinese Super League, it was chucking money at them.
00:25:13
Nick Britten
It was chucking money at them and it was paying ridiculous amounts of money. i mean, look, not as ridiculous as the Saudi Pro League is doing now, but in relative terms, ridiculous amounts of money at players to come over, big name players from all over the world to come over and play football.
00:25:28
Nick Britten
pick chucking money at stadia chucking money at sponsorship chucking money at absolutely everything and many many many clubs in china relied on that state investment and what's happened now is because of the economic downturn in china particularly since covid they've just pulled the plug they pulled the plug and the clubs who rely on that money have just folded so ah so many clubs have have just sort of gone gone bust um
00:25:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
No,
00:25:55
Nick Britten
One of the reasons why the Super League suddenly went from boom to absolute bust is because they introduced a salary cap of £56,000 a week. Now, you ain't going to attract the world's top players of £56,000 a week, are you?
00:26:08
Nick Britten
Let's face it.
00:26:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
you're not.
00:26:09
Nick Britten
So you've got fewer fewer quality players came in, fewer quality coaches, and it all started... going into a little bit of a nosedive. And that that reliance on foreign better talent to drive up standards just stopped.
00:26:22
Nick Britten
um And the last one, which is very much linked to numbers one and two, is exactly, as I've said, the collapse of the domestic game. In 2020, in twenty twenty The Chinese Football Association imposed what was called a luxury tax or became known as a luxury tax that essentially killed big money foreign transfers. It was greedy move, really, to to make sure that any the the government got a cut in all essence. That's what it was of of these big money transfers.
00:26:47
Nick Britten
They banned sponsors from naming teams after themselves. So sponsors ran for the hills. And as I said, they imposed a salary cap. So since COVID, 40 professional clubs have folded.
00:26:59
Nick Britten
Forty.
00:27:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow. Wow.
00:27:01
Nick Britten
That is a lot. State ownership has shrunk. Investors have disappeared. And those clubs who massively overspent during the boom years of the 2010s have just seen revenues dry up and have got nowhere to turn.
00:27:14
Nick Britten
um And the last bit of that is that for years and years and years, corruption in the Chinese game was really absolutely rife. Absolutely right. To the extent that in in December, so only four or five months ago, December 2024, the former of men's national team coach, Lai T, but was jailed for 20 years for bribery.
00:27:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
wow
00:27:35
Nick Britten
20 years. And you can write a book on the sort of stuff that he's been up to, but it was indicative of what's going on. um So all of these things, if you put them all together, they've had a devastating effect on the men's national team's hopes of developing and progressing.
00:27:50
Nick Britten
They're now ranked 90th in the world. They've only ever qualified for one World Cup final, ah during which they lost all three games. That was in 2002 Japan and Korea.
00:28:02
Nick Britten
They're currently bottom of Group C in qualifying. They've played eight. They've won two. They've lost six, including seven i defeat to Japan, which, believe me, stung the Chinese people. That stung the Chinese people.
00:28:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
I bet.
00:28:13
Nick Britten
um And sadly, the great dream of China seems to have died. but But to finish with, because we are a very upbeat podcast, are we not?
00:28:24
Nick Britten
There is hope. There is hope.
00:28:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:28:27
Nick Britten
Because of all these problems, rising from the furnace of the Chinese Super League and the disaster of the domestic grain is a phoenix of hope.
00:28:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:28:38
Nick Britten
And that phoenix of hope is that clubs are now being forced to to invest in youth. They're being forced to invest in homegrown talent, and they're being forced to what they should have done 20 years ago, which is start from the bottom and build up.
00:28:54
Nick Britten
So whilst the days of boom and bust cycle looks to be over, hopefully, and they've really hampered the national team's improvement, let's hope that actually it's going to lead to great things and a much more stable Chinese football federation in future that relies on homegrown talent and they can finally get it right.
Growth Potential in Chinese Football
00:29:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, that's been, that was tour de force. Nick, that was that that's that's probably going to win an Emmy, that particular analysis.
00:29:19
Nick Britten
thanks
00:29:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
But it's fascinating because you clearly it was a glory project. It was a glory project, a political glory project to put China, as if it wasn't already, even more in on the map, but without the kind of infrastructure, without the support that was needed.
00:29:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
And you know what? When I compare that to the Japan experience or the career experience, where are the Chinese players? Where are the Chinese players who have come through that that system playing at the top level in Europe, which is as close to the top level as you can get?
00:29:47
Nick Britten
Yeah.
00:29:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
You just don't see them, really.
00:29:54
Nick Britten
but
00:29:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
They don't want or to. So, hey, if it leads to slower growth, but a growth of a more sustainable rate, that's got to be a great thing.
00:30:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
So...
00:30:07
Nick Britten
Well, that's the road they're being forced to travel. I mean, the the thing is, though, it's a slow road, isn't it, as we all know? It takes time. It's whether or not they've got the patience to do it. That's all it'll come down to.
00:30:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:30:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:30:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right. Okay. So if that is China, by the way, before we just close this off with a couple of other things, couple of other countries that really underperform that I noticed when I was going through the Asia qualification China.
Underperforming Nations
00:31:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
India, i mean India, 127th in the world. Pakistan, population 250 million, wandered and 198th.
00:31:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
One place below, Timor-Leste, with a population of 1 million. Four places ahead of Guam, which is the Segway.
00:31:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
who have got a population of 170,000. How, if you are head of the Pakistani Football Authority, you want you want sending to prison for 20 years?
00:31:44
Nick Britten
There's a gaping hole, isn't there? there's a gaping hole in in that part of the world.
00:31:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is it the cricket effect?
00:31:48
Nick Britten
Because both India and Pakistan, yeah well, cricket, it's the cricket effect.
00:31:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:31:54
Nick Britten
There's a cricket effect, there's a weather effect, there's a money effect, there's all sorts of effects, which is yeah as to why football hasn't developed. It's become really, really popular. The Premier League's become massive in India particularly, massive.
00:32:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
It has. Yeah.
00:32:05
Nick Britten
It's a huge growth area for watching sports, but they've never played it. They've never played it to any kind of level.
00:32:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's very, very odd. Right.
Guam's Unique Position
00:32:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay. So we talked about Guam there. 202 in the world. 30 miles long. Bless it. ah But I'm interested to know a little bit more about Guam because, you know, they've got a, they're just as entitled to their place in the FIFA World Cup sun as anyone else. So Guam, Nick.
00:32:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Are booking your holidays?
00:32:34
Nick Britten
Yeah, one of the great, what have it well, I'll tell you what am I might do. And I might island hop from New Caledonia where we were last week yeah doing a focus there.
00:32:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
imagine.
00:32:42
Nick Britten
Because one of the great things about doing this podcast is I love looking at places you would not normally look at and taking a step away from the football and examining parts of the world which would normally would just pass you by.
00:32:52
Nick Britten
we just pass you by you might Listen, you might not have even heard of Guam out there in podcast world. You might not even have heard of it. Well, let me tell you a bit about it.
00:33:02
Nick Britten
as Ken says, you're quite right, mate. It's a tiny island. It's a tiny island. It's only 30 miles long and between 4 and 12 miles wide. So it's most narrow.
00:33:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
well
00:33:10
Nick Britten
It's literally 4 miles. You can walk from one side of the road. Dead easy. um So it's smaller than Chicago. It's half the size of Los Angeles, population of 170,000.
00:33:21
Nick Britten
But for such a small place, and this is a brilliant thing I love about it, it is ah really, really important strategic military place. Okay? and Where is it? Well, it's in the middle of nowhere, really, or to be slightly more exact, in the middle of this in middle of the Pacific Ocean.
00:33:40
Nick Britten
um But it's owned, as so it's it's an American colony, and it's been at the subject of several wrangles down the years because of its strategic base close to Asia.
00:33:52
Nick Britten
um And it's got a quite a heavy military base there. We're going to come to that in just a moment.
00:33:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, it's all from the Second World War because the Americans stormed Guam and in 1944 because it was a Japanese stronghold.
00:34:00
Nick Britten
Yeah. but well Well, and prior to that, it was a Spanish stronghold. So it was it was first colonized by Spain in the 1600s. It was then captured by the Americans in 1898 and became an American overseas territory.
00:34:14
Nick Britten
That's when it first became and and an American overseas ah territory.
00:34:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:34:19
Nick Britten
um And it was it was of such importance that the Japanese captured it in 1941. ah just after Pearl Harbor, actually, and they occupied it.
00:34:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
I
00:34:28
Nick Britten
They occupied for two and a half years before, as you've just pointed out, America retook control. um China and North Korea have openly said they want control of Guam. I mean, this is extraordinary.
00:34:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah think you should play a football game for it that'd be fair yeah that's true we may want to ask the Guamese first though just saying
00:34:40
Nick Britten
Yeah. Maybe that's the best way to do it. It's better than blowing up, which is their other option, quite frankly. Yeah.
00:34:49
Nick Britten
Yeah. um so So for such in a tiny place, it's at the center of a battle by proper, know, the global superpowers of USA, ah China.
00:35:00
Nick Britten
and At the moment, ah the reality, look, the reality is is so important to America because it's very much their most powerful. military strategic outposts, should we say, in the Pacific and very much the front line of their defence operations in Asia.
00:35:15
Nick Britten
And that's why it's so important. And it's used very much as a deterrent for the growing threat of China, of North Korea and places like that. You know, we've all seen loads in the news, haven't we, about China's determination to get its hands on Taiwan.
00:35:30
Nick Britten
ah Well, this is why ah Guam is so important for the Americans is to have a base there it's to act as a deterrent to China to stop it just from crawling all over you know Asia and wanting to yeah and trying to try to invade everywhere.
00:35:47
Nick Britten
It has an airfo Air Force base on It's got a naval base on It it houses 10,000 military personnel, which make up around 15% of the island population. and But being being American, or being an American a colony, if you like, people born in Guam are actually US citizens.
00:36:03
Nick Britten
And US federal law applies in Guam, um which is which is unusual. It does have its own legislature. It does have its own governor. and But there is a lot of talk, and this is this is where it gets interesting.
00:36:16
Nick Britten
There's a lot of talk about it becoming the 51st US state. So it might become the 51st US state.
00:36:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wow.
00:36:23
Nick Britten
but Although the way things are going, to be fair, um it might have to be the 52nd if Donald Trump gets his hands on Canada, or indeed the 53rd if Donald Trump gets his hand on Greenland, or the 54th if he takes over Ukraine, or indeed the 55th if Gaza becomes a US territory as well. You get where i'm going with all of this.
00:36:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
but I think we're on that list as well, to be honest.
00:36:43
Nick Britten
and
00:36:45
Nick Britten
Yeah, well, this is it. Yeah, we could all be. but By the time Trump has finished his three years, there'll be 2000 American states and the whole world will belong to the USA. The main revenue in Guam is tourism. Indigenous Guamanians.
00:37:01
Nick Britten
I practiced that loads before I came on.
00:37:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
qua manian
00:37:03
Nick Britten
Guamanians. Yeah, that's what they're called. People who live Guam. um the indigenous people there are called the Chamorros and they believed to have lived in the region for as long as by far back as 1500 BC so they go what's extraordinary um it has only two seasons we have four seasons here in the UK we have spring summer winter autumn and winter Guam only has two seasons wet and dry
00:37:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
iron i remember those days
00:37:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
football season and off season
00:37:28
Nick Britten
which they Yeah, pretty much so. and So that's set that's good. In 2022, seems a lot a lot easier, doesn't it? Wet season and dry season. That's it.
00:37:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, we should do we should try that.
00:37:39
Nick Britten
lot easier. We should try that. We'd have 11 months of wet season and one month of dry season. That'd be it. In 2020, it joined the Unrepresented Nations and People's Organization, which represents territories with no self-determination. And unlike...
00:37:55
Nick Britten
New Caledonia, who we talked about last week, who are fighting quite a fierce battle for independence. Guam, there's more popularity amongst the Guam people to become more entrenched in America and become sort of more American citizens.
00:38:09
Nick Britten
But on to sports. ah Because it's American territory, ah soccer is way down the list of sports, to be honest. um American football, baseball, basketball are all far more popular. In fact,
00:38:21
Nick Britten
the Guam men and women's basketball teams are a real powerhouse in that they play in the Oceania region although Guam play football in Asia basketball ah they play in Oceania and they're they're a real powerhouse they only sit behind Australia and New Zealand as as the best basketball teams which is which is you know pretty impressive um but I am going to end on a football story because this is indeed after all a football podcast um and we always like to look for the future
00:38:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, there you go.
Guam's Football Challenges
00:38:45
Nick Britten
here at GSPN, and we always like, ah as I've done with China a moment with ago, we always like a message of hope, do we not, Ken?
00:38:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
We do.
00:38:51
Nick Britten
Do we not? and So it was just very recently, ladies and gentlemen, it was in fine fettle that the Guam under-17s flew out to the Asian Cup 2025 qualifiers in Singapore.
00:39:05
Nick Britten
With the words of the head coach, Dominic Gadia, ringing in their ears. ah Gadia had said he wanted his team to operate, exist and perform at its maximum potential and use the tournament to propel both themselves and the national team to the highest levels possible.
00:39:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's stirring stuff, stirring words.
00:39:26
Nick Britten
Having a winning mentality, he said, yeah, having a winning mentality, he said, at this level is non-negotiable.
00:39:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Focus, focus, focus, go on under-17s.
00:39:35
Nick Britten
Non-negotiable. so Off they went to Singapore. Yeah. And after two days of competition in Group J, Guam lost to Singapore 14-0, Oman 18-0, and lost to Tajikistan 33-0.
00:39:50
Nick Britten
thirty three nil So they came home, ah would say, not perhaps with a winning mentality, and perhaps not propelling the the national team and indeed the other underage programmes to future success.
00:39:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
no
00:40:05
Nick Britten
So a mushro I'd love to report here that the future of Guam football looks healthy, but I'm afraid I'm not sure that I can.
00:40:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
I think they're going to be stuck at 202 for a while, aren't they? But, you know, they wouldn't be meeting the coach's eye, would they? You know, after that, they would that' there'd be that' they'd be sitting in the corner quietly, just trying to
00:40:23
Nick Britten
Yeah, yeah, you don't want to be the left-back trudging off the pitch after that. imagine Imagine if you're the full-back on the coach's side and you're losing 33-0. You are going to get a right earful.
00:40:33
Nick Britten
You are going to get it properly.
00:40:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, that's that's not going end well. Hey, well, look, that's been a window on the world. This is always a window on the world,
Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
00:40:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
the road to the World Cup. hope you enjoy it. hope you're enjoying as much as we are putting it together. Where are we going next?
00:40:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Where do you fancy next week? We've already got two more to do. haven't We've got Europe. South America.
00:40:50
Nick Britten
We've got... yeah yeah we've got uefa to do um who else have we got to us we got to do here south america conmebol car mate we've left two matter uefa and conmebol what teams what teams oh
00:40:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
South America.
00:41:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let's do Conmerball. Let's do Conmerball next week. we in court we gay we're We're going to Rio. We're going salsa our way through 40 minutes of Conmerball.
00:41:13
Nick Britten
well And there's great there's a great story brewing, isn't there? Because Brazil are in real choppy waters here when it comes to trying to qualify. They were in proper choppy.
00:41:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
They're in the pick-up.
00:41:22
Nick Britten
They lost but lost to Argentina last week. They got rid of the manager. And they might not be present at the USA, Mexico and Canada.
00:41:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's going to take a few things for it to to work out for them, but we're going to explore that in a lot of detail next week. Thank you, everybody, for listening to Road to World Cup. As we say, make sure you get yourself subscribed. Make sure you like it. Make sure you leave a comment wherever you want to leave a comment.
00:41:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is our pleasure to bring you this every week. Hope you've enjoyed it. So it's a goodbye from Ken. Is it a goodbye from Nick?
00:41:53
Nick Britten
It's a very good buy, and we look forward to seeing you next week.
00:41:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fantastic.