select a team ---------- Europe: Belgium Croatia Denmark England France Germany Ireland Italy Poland Portugal Russia Slovenia Spain Sweden Turkey ---------- South America: Argentina Brazil Ecuador Paraguay Uruguay ---------- Africa: Cameroon Nigeria Senegal South Africa Tunisia ---------- Asia: China Japan Saudi Arabia South Korea ---------- CONCACAF: Costa Rica Mexico United States     Main page    Schedule    Stadiums

China gripped by World Cup mania

China could have the largest number of soccer fans in the world, according to a sports editor at Sina.com

KUNMING, China (CNN) -- A restaurant steeped in soccer has opened in the capital Beijing, where the chefs and waiters will drop virtually anything for the sport.

Qianxi is a theme eatery adorned with soccer motifs, where waiters dressed in soccer uniforms serve mouth-watering dishes.

It is just one of the many businesses in China capitalizing on World Cup mania that is gripping the country's potential 100 million fans.

The restaurant's main chef is even prepared to fork out a few months salary to see the games in South Korea.

"This is the first time ever that Team China has qualified for the World Cup after forty four years of trying. We have to go there to cheer for them in the stadium," the chef tells CNN.

Milu-inspired

Such feverish enthusiasm is driving China's team to improve their skills and mental toughness as they train at high altitude in the country's southwestern Yunnan province.

Their Serbian coach Milutinovic, whom they fondly call "Milu", has definitely inspired them.

"Nothing seems to intimidate him, we are like that too," Hai Haidong, a player, told CNN.

Milu has earned celebrity status as the only coach to lead five different national teams into the World Cup.

As flocks of fans surround their bus in Kunming, team China's large following is attracting big money.

The China Central Television (CCTV) hopes to reap some $60 million in advertising revenues during their exclusive coverage of the games.

Cyber soccer battle

Websites are also cashing in including sina.com and sohu.com, with soccer-related pages, e-shopping and more.

Yet the marketing mania has led to a cyberspace quarrel, in which two of China's biggest web providers are fighting it out to be Team China's "designated website."

Nasdaq-listed Sohu.com had earlier claimed an exclusive right, but the China Football Association said that belongs to Sina.com, also Nasdaq-listed.

"As official website, Sina.com has the exclusive rights to have Chinese players, coaches and officials to take part in online chat before and after the games," Ao Ming, a Sina.com Sports Editor told CNN.

"We'll also invite soccer stars to shoot TV commercials for sina.com which will air before the games on thirty TV stations in China," he reiterates.

Sina.com will also offer game schedules, results and commentaries on line and through their short-messages service, which company officials say is attracting 6,000 new subscribers daily.

"China probably has the most soccer fans in the world. I think 10 percent of China's 1.3 billion people are soccer fans," says Ao Ming.

This means that over 100 million eyes and ears could tune in to the world's most prestigious goal-fest.

With Team China playing in the World Cup for the first time, interest in the game is soaring as soccer fans and business enterprises compete for the best seats on the ground and in cyberspace.