Editor's note: Jaime FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese history at Peking University (1977-81) and was TIME Magazine's Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000).

Beijing (CNN) -- Thirty-two of the world's best football teams are now competing for the iconic golden World Cup trophy -- but the planet's most populous nation is not among them.

Team China failed to qualify for the "beautiful game's" showpiece event in Brazil. In fact China's World Cup dream turned into a nightmare as early as 2011, when it was eliminated in a regional qualifying round.

But for all the interest in football in this country of more than one billion people, it is a huge source of frustration that they can't field a competitive national team.

"China's weakness in football is a pain point and there is certainly an ambition to improve," said Scott Kronick, President of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific. Indeed, a multitude of Chinese -- from the state president, to a Peking University student, to a Beijing taxi driver -- share one Chinese dream: that Team China will one day win in the World Cup finals.

Finals flop

China reached the finals only once back in 2002. I remember that heady year. There was a heroes' welcome for the national team, many of whom became icons with fat commercial endorsements. There was deleterious display of national pride accompanied by soaring expectations for Team China.

But their debut turned out to be an embarrassing dud: they were knocked out after the group stage without scoring a single goal.

Still, these setbacks have not deflated the football fever here.

"There is a huge following for international football in China because local fans celebrate global talent," said Kronick, a long-time Beijing resident who plays football in a local amateur league. "The World Cup is about 'nationalism' at its finest, absent politics, and that's what makes it enjoyable."

 

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Global game

Chinese football fans have been enjoying the action in Brazil despite matches taking place after midnight, Beijing time.

By hook or by crook, local fans are finding ways to stay up late for the games. Some took paid leave, others found excuses to stay home, such as getting doctors to sign sick-leave certificates. A man asked to take the day off ostensibly to attend a teacher-parent conference.

READ: Chinese flock to buy World Cup sick notes

Some managers say work place productivity has dropped lately. A few companies have simply conceded defeat, agreeing to a staggered work schedule to allow for some employees to stay in late, and come in late.

"The World Cup matches are played in the wee hours," said Wang Chen, a venture-capital manager. "If the staff can't get good sleep, work will be affected, so I pushed back working hours, hoping to arouse their work enthusiasm and efficiency."

"The World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet, so regardless of where you are in the world, you can't escape the excitement and passion surrounding the event, and China is no exception," said Misha Sher, director at MediaCom Sport, who manages partnerships for football icon, Pele, on behalf of his own management, Legends10.

Sher credits football's popularity here to an increasingly popular Chinese professional league, and to the extensive media exposure of top-level players and games through TV and digital channels like CCTV and Tencent. "They bring the game into the homes of hundreds of millions of fans, who are now engaged around the World Cup," he said.

Cash kicks

Enthusiasm for the game brings commercial windfalls.

The World Cup advertising revenue for Leshi, one of China's largest video websites is estimated to reach RMB100 million yuan ($16 million), said its top executive Qiang Wei.

This summer alone CCTV, the state television network, could rake in as much as RMB1.5 billion yuan ($240 million) in advertising revenue -- 50% more than their earnings from the 2010 World Cup.

"Given the interest generated by the World Cup, many companies are tapping into the passion and emotion created by the competition to connect with consumers," said Sher, who recently accompanied Pele to Beijing.

Coca Cola has used its sponsorship with a World Cup Trophy Tour, where they took the trophy to over 90 countries and held consumer events.

McDonald's ran point of sale promotions, which offered World Cup tickets to winners.

Other brands created various content, featuring international and national team players to connect the brand to the event.

The competition for advertising and commerce is not limited to sports brands. On the eve of the World Cup, an electric bike manufacturer in southern China brought Pele to Beijing to hitch on the World Cup bandwagon.

"They knew local residents are crazy about football and a legend like Pele endorsing their brand make them more endearing," explained Kronick.

Since the month-long competition opened in Brazil, legions of Chinese sports fans have been gathering for viewing parties in their living rooms, in factory and school dormitories, and in restaurants and bars, many of which have opened late for the fans to watch matches live on Chinese television.

Of course, not all of these sleep-deprived folks are bona fide football fans. A posting on Baidu, China's largest search engine, noted that the Chinese have recently coined the word "wei qiumi," or "fake soccer fans," referring to people who watch the game only once in a while, who care more about the final scores rather than enjoying the actual games, and who think celebrity players play a more important role in matches than the coaches.

編者按：自1971年以來海梅吉米生活和在中國工作，他研究中國歷史在北京大學（1977-81），並為時代雜誌的駐京記者和總編輯（1982-2000）。

北京（CNN） -三十二個世界上最好的球隊現在都在爭奪標誌性的金色的世界杯冠軍獎杯-但這個星球上人口最多的國家不在其中。

中國隊未能晉級巴西的“美麗遊戲的”樣板事件。事實上，中國的世界杯夢想變成了噩夢，因為早在2011年，當它在一個地區資格賽被淘汰。

但在足球中超過十億人口的國家的所有利益，它是一個巨大的挫折源，他們不能現場有競爭力的國家隊。

“中國的弱點足球是一種痛苦點，肯定是有野心的提高，”斯科特克羅尼克，奧美公關亞太區總裁說。事實上，許多中國人 - 從國家主席，到北大的學生，在北京出租車司機 - 共享一個中國夢：那中國隊會在世界杯決賽1天勝利。

翻牌總決賽

中國殺入了總決賽只有一次早在2002年，我記得那令人心醉的一年。有一個英雄的歡迎國家隊，其中許多人成為了圖標與脂肪商業代言。有民族自豪感的有害顯示伴隨著對中國隊的期望飆升。

但他們的首張竟然是一個尷尬的啞炮：他們在小組賽之後被淘汰了不進球一球。

不過，這些挫折都沒有癟的足球熱潮在這裡。

“有一個巨大的追隨者在中國國際足壇，因為當地球迷慶祝全球人才，”克羅尼克，經過較長時間的北京居民誰在當地業餘聯賽踢球說。“世界杯是關於”民族主義“在其最好的，沒有政治，這是什麼使得它令人愉快。”

Ğ 葉形遊戲

中國球迷一直享受在巴西的行動，儘管午夜，北京時間之後發生的比賽。

通過巧取豪奪，當地球迷正在想方設法熬夜的遊戲。有些花了帶薪休假，別人找藉口留在家裡，如讓醫生簽署的病假證明。一個人要求放一天假表面上是為了參加一個教師家長會。

閱讀：中國的羊群買世界杯病假紙

有些經理說，工作場所的生產力下降最近。一些公司乾脆承認失敗，同意交錯工作時間表，以允許一些員工留在晚了，進來晚了。

“世界杯的比賽被演奏在凌晨，”王晨，一個風險投資經理說。“如果員工不能獲得良好的睡眠，工作會受到影響，所以我往後推工時，希望能引起他們的工作積極性和工作效率。”

“世界杯是這個星球上最大的體育賽事，所以無論您身在何處的世界，你無法逃避的興奮和激情環繞的情況下，中國也不例外，”米莎舍爾，在競立媒體總監說體育，誰管理的足球偶像，貝利，合作夥伴代表他自己的管理，Legends10的。

舍爾學分足球的普及這裡越來越受歡迎的中國職業聯賽，以及頂級球員和比賽，通過電視和數字頻道，如CCTV和騰訊廣泛的媒體曝光。“他們把比賽拖入億萬球迷，誰是現在從事圍繞世界杯的家，”他說。

現金踢

對遊戲的熱情帶來的商業暴利。

據估計，世界杯廣告收入為樂視網，中國最大的視頻網站之一，達到人民幣1.00億元人民幣（約合1600萬美元）表示，其高層管理人員魏強。

這個夏天獨自中央電視台，國家電視台的網絡，可以在耙高達人民幣15十億人民幣（約合2.4億美元）的廣告收入 - 比從2010年世界杯他們的收入多出50％。

“鑑於世界杯產生的利息，很多企業都在進軍由競爭與消費者建立連接的激情和情感，”舍爾，誰最近貝利陪同到北京說。

可口可樂利用其贊助了世界杯獎杯巡迴賽，在那裡他們接過獎杯到90多個國家和舉辦消費者活動。

麥當勞跑銷售點的促銷活動，其中提供世界杯門票獲獎者。

其他品牌的創建各種內容，提供國際和國家隊的球員，以品牌連接到事件。

用於廣告和商業的競爭不僅限於運動品牌。在世界杯前夕，中國南方電動自行車製造商帶來了球王貝利到北京搭上了世界杯的行列。

“他們知道當地居民痴迷於橄欖球和像貝利傳奇贊同其品牌使它們更惹人喜愛，解釋說：”克羅尼克。

由於長達一個月的比賽在巴西開幕，中國體育軍團的球迷已經聚集觀看各方在他們的客廳，在工廠和學校宿舍，並在餐廳和酒吧，其中有許多已經打開遲到的球迷觀看球賽住在中國電視上。

當然，並非所有這些睡眠不足的人是真正的足球迷。在百度，中國最大的搜索引擎發布，指出中國最近創造了這個詞“偉qiumi”或“假球迷”，指的是人們誰觀看比賽只在一段時間，誰更在乎最後一次分數，而不是享受實際的遊戲，誰認為名人玩家扮演火柴更重要的作用比教練。