Ha Bao, Empty Nets, and 1.8 Billion Views: Mark Dreyer on Football, China, and the 2026 World Cup

Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

It was a tournament full of drama, upsets, and cultural moments.

Not least in China, where Xiaohong Xu streamed all 104 matches for free and Norwegian striker Erling Haaland generated nearly 1.8 billion views on the platform.

China's national team, meanwhile, watched from home.

Again, Mark Dreyer has spent nearly two decades trying to explain that paradox.

Mark is the founder of China Sports Insider, author of Sporting Superpower, an insider's view on China's quest to be the best, and one of the most respected English-language journalists covering sport in China.

His recent piece in The Economist on the state of Chinese football went viral, laying out why a country with enormous resources, a football-obsessed president, and 1.4 billion people has qualified for the World Cup exactly once.

in 2002 and shows few signs of returning anytime soon.

In this episode, Mark gives his verdict on the 2026 World Cup, the football, the format, and the final.

As a dual English-Canadian citizen, he also has personal stakes in two teams, England, who reached the semifinals before losing to Argentina and finished third with a thrilling 6-4 win over France, and Canada, who bowed out in the round of 16.

He breaks down the state of Chinese football at every level, the national team, the domestic league, and the youth development pipeline, and explains why the problems run much deeper than money or political will can fix.

Mark also digs into how China consumed this World Cup differently, Xiaohong Xu's landmark streaming deal, the Haolan phenomenon, and what it reveals about how Chinese fans engage with foreign athletes, and whether China will ever host, let alone win, a World Cup of its own.

Enjoy.

The Chinese sports broadcasting landscape has long been quite fragmented and platforms will pop up, sometimes affiliates of parent companies, and suddenly they've got a huge big tournament and no one's ever heard of them before.

But it doesn't really matter.

It does sort of jump around a bit.

And that's been the case probably for about 10 to 15 years where there's new apps that will pop up and suddenly they're the major player or they'll go bust or, you know, so it's a very fluid landscape, which is actually quite exciting because you've got competition.

And so there's lots of people bidding and trying to stream lots of things.

So that's a good thing.

It's getting in front of the fans and the fact that it was free of charge also positive.

Home to over 4 billion people, the Asia-Pacific region boasts one of the most powerful consumer markets on the planet.

Not only is it home to half of the world's under-30 population, but it's also home to more than half the world's internet users.

It's a market that no globally-minded organization should ignore.

But entering markets like China, Japan, or Southeast Asia is no easy task.

Just ask the likes of Microsoft, Google, Uber, and Facebook.

However, times are changing, and with the right partners, doors are slowly opening as more and more companies find success growing their key markets in APAC.

I myself spent eight years in China, mostly as a venture capitalist, helping early-stage tech companies grow in the Asia-Pacific market successfully.

This show is dedicated to uncovering and examining successful Asia market entry and growth strategies by interviewing the experts who've done it before and truly understand what it takes to be successful in the region.

My name is Todd Embly, and welcome to The Negotiation, brought to you by WPIC Marketing and Technologies.