[Global Network Report] On January 1, 2023, a piece of news that "Japanese media complained about the expansion of the World Cup is to allow the Chinese men's football team to participate" once topped Weibo's hot search.
The online version of the Japanese magazine "FRIDAY" "FRIDAY DIGITAL" published an article on the same day speculating that due to the huge investment of Chinese companies, FIFA (FIFA) takes China into consideration in various aspects, which even makes the Chinese men's football team "certain" to win the 2026 World Cup. "Right to Participate".
However, "FRIDAY DIGITAL" did not give evidence to support this statement in the article.
"FRIDAY DIGITAL" stated in the article that FIFA previously stated that the number of participating teams in the 2026 World Cup will increase from 32 to 48. This decision has been criticized by European and North American football powers. ", "This is a stupid decision to let the Chinese men's football team be shortlisted".
The media did not say where this statement came from, but "analyzed" in the article the reasons for the opinion that "FIFA increased the number of participating teams to allow the Chinese men's football team to be shortlisted".
The article described that for FIFA, it "cannot point its feet at China while sleeping" (Editor's Note: A Japanese saying, which means that there should be no disrespect for benefactors).
According to the article, in 2015, the then FIFA chairman Blatter and other senior officials of the organization were exposed to corruption scandals. According to relevant sources of the Japan Football Association, affected by the incident, many major players in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and other countries The business has chosen not to renew the sponsor contract.
This put FIFA in a financial crisis.
The article claimed that after this, the country that "whole country" invested in FIFA was China.
The article further stated that after the corruption scandal in 2015, China placed FIFA under the influence of the country. The investment of Chinese companies in the World Cup in Qatar has surpassed that of American companies, becoming the world's number one.
Some people believe that through this "achievement", the Chinese men's football team will "definitely" get the "right to participate" in the 2026 World Cup.
The article speculates that if China participates, FIFA may also take care of China in the distribution of tickets and press passes.
"FRIDAY DIGITAL" also stated that in order to eliminate this "noise", the Chinese men's football team must show the strength worthy of participating in the World Cup.
On the Japanese Internet, the "speculative report" of "FRIDAY DIGITAL" did not attract much attention from Japanese netizens. After 13 hours of publication, the comment column of this article published by the media Twitter account still had no comments.
However, this report once topped the list of trending searches on China's Weibo, with more than 100 million views.
(Source: World Wide Web)