This is like asking why Brazil (pop 208M) and Nigeria (pop 191m) don't field competitive cricket teams.
Interestingly enough, China does have a fairly decent women's soccer team (~17th in the world), so they must be doing something right.
Interestingly enough, China does have a fairly decent women's soccer team (~17th in the world), so they must be doing something right.
If the people don't play a sport, why try to force it on them?
In places like China, Indonesia, and even the US, rightly or wrongly, the people are not really very big on football. (In China, the government is attempting to prop up football unilaterally, but it is having limited success).
Now maybe this aversion cultural, maybe its economic, whatever. But I'm not seeing why the Chinese people should be pushed into football when they have an obvious preference for other activities?
The US has a great women's team in part because lots of women play soccer, and in part because their aren't that many other competitive sports for them to play on a professional level.
The US has an OK men's team mainly because there are enough athletes left over after football, basketball, baseball, and hockey take their cuts to field a somewhat competitive team. They didn't qualify this time around, but they have qualified for seven of the last eight World Cups, so they're doing something right.
In both cases, it has little to do with how much money is spent (if that were the case, the US would dominate the sport) and more to do with how many top athletes decide to play the sport with kids AND stick with it as a profession once they become adults.
They claim it's an "amateur" sport in china. Which is just this side of ridiculous.
Even basketball is growing faster than football in China. This despite the government propping football up. Which is not an indictment of the Chinese, just pointing out that the people there, left to their own devices, would just as soon do something other than play football.
Why? Soccer is by far the most popular sport in China for quite some time now.
I think you need to spend a generation or two to also get the systems right, tho.
We don't think of it as a sport, because it doesn't necessarily fit our western view of sport. But you'd be hard pressed to say that football or basketball is more popular than martial arts as an athletic pass time in China.
However almost all Chinese I know have at least some interest in soccer. Of course they bet on European teams in lack of having own strong teams. But they are more into it than most Europeans I know (who mostly only care in special seasons like World Cup).
In fact, I'm CERTAIN that hip-hop, yoga, or jogging all have a bigger hobby base in the US than hockey, or basketball, or NFL football. If by "hobby" and "serious effort" you mean personally engages in activity twice a week or more. That doesn't make any of them necessarily more "popular" than hockey, or basketball, or NFL football.
Just because it isn't played daily, doesn't mean it isn't a pass time. Martial arts tournaments are enormously popular.
It's arguably even worse in China. Because football is being propped up by the government. Which means even where the government is, let's say, "subtly to strongly urging" people to interact with football, they are still choosing to interact with basketball, martial arts, ping pong, etc instead. Without the government backing, football would fade quickly. Not so for table tennis, or basketball, or boxing. (Which all maintain their popularity with no government intervention.)