SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
This year, the World Cup expanded from 32 teams to 48, but the world's two most populous countries, India and China, were not represented at the men's tournament again. NPR's Diaa Hadid in Mumbai and Jennifer Pak in Beijing explain why.
JENNIFER PAK, BYLINE: Both China and India have technically qualified for the Men's World Cup before.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Though India declined to play in 1950.
PAK: And China qualified for the 2002 World Cup. It was a moment of national pride for fans back then, as captured by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: "I am just so happy," says this man with Chinese flags stuck on his face. "It's a dream come true." But the Chinese team only played three games in the 2002 World Cup and scored zero goals.
HADID: As for India, soccer - or football, as it's called here - is part of its independence story - from 1911, when an Indian team thrashed the British side, it showed Indians could beat their British colonial overlords, and they remained a pretty formidable side up to the '60s.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: But on a recent Mumbai afternoon in a park, you could see how far soccer's fallen by the wayside. NPR producer Shweta Desai asks kids...
SHWETA DESAI, BYLINE: Do you know there is a World Cup happening?
HADID: And 13-year-old Bhumi says...
BHUMI: I got to know from you...
DESAI: OK.
BHUMI: ...That there is a World Cup happening now.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: In fact, India has die-hard supporters of soccer, but they live in a world of pain.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: It's a result that no Indian football fan would want to see, but there it is.
HADID: That's outlet Sports Today after the Indian national team lost to Singapore last year. Singapore has about the population of a suburb in Mumbai. The hosts lament, it's been this way for a while.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Perhaps this is where we were about seven years back as well. So not really much has changed.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Twenty years back.
(CHEERING)
PAK: Many Chinese soccer fans share that heartbreak, like college student Li Xiefeng, who is watching this World Cup at a Beijing bar.
LI XIEFENG: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: "Every time the World Cup takes place, people talk about the only time China qualified," she says, "and my mum would mention the so-called three wishes." Those are President Xi Jinping's wishes for China to qualify, win and host a World Cup. As a self-professed soccer lover, Xi tried to overhaul the soccer scene in 2015 with a decadeslong plan, and it's a good one, had they stuck to it, says Mark Dreyer, author of "Sporting Superpower," a book about China's sporting ambitions.
MARK DREYER: China doesn't have the patience, really, for these 20-year cycles because they want to see results within three or four years when officials cycle through and get their next promotion.
PAK: And the very officials who were tasked to lead China's soccer transformation were jailed for corruption, including the former head of the Chinese Football Association, Chen Xuyuan. He spoke from prison in a state media documentary in 2024.
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CHEN XUYUAN: (Non-English language spoken).
PAK: He describes how just before he got the job, two officials set down backpacks filled with cash for him and said, please take good care of us.
HADID: In India, critics say the rot set in when government investment in soccer fell by the wayside. Last year, the All India Football Federation, as it's known, couldn't even attract sponsors to cover payments to run the games. In January, some of India's most prominent players appealed on Facebook to FIFA to intervene.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: So we are calling the FIFA to step in and do what it takes to save Indian football.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Hey.
PAK: In China, there's another problem on the soccer field - not enough kids playing into their teenage years, says Dreyer.
DREYER: Sport is often seen as a distraction to academic success.
PAK: So there's not enough talent coming through these soccer fields.
HADID: But you'll notice both Jennifer and I are talking about men's soccer because there is a bright spot in both China and India.
SHARDA UGRA: The women are doing much better.
HADID: That's sports journalist Sharda Ugra. She says the under-17-year-olds are qualifying for regional competitions. Ugra says, it's come despite the institutions that are meant to support soccer in India. She says, the women's achievement has been...
UGRA: On their own merit. They...
HADID: ...On their own merit.
PAK: Meanwhile, in China, the women's team isn't just doing better. They've already qualified for the 2027 Women's World Cup. In Beijing, I'm Jennifer Pak.
HADID: And from Mumbai, I'm Diaa Hadid, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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