Clone culture rescues national soccer team

China showed off its athletic prowess last year when it topped the medal table at the Olympics, so how come it can't produce a soccer team worth shouting for? It's a shame the country that arguably played the beautiful game first is represented by the China Super League, a source of mirth around the world.

There were so many on-field fights last season that China News Agency described the league's fixtures as Shaolin soccer and compared players to "martial arts heroes." Not surprisingly, perhaps, attendances and TV viewing figures declined. Meanwhile, the national team has a ranking of 104, just behind Ethiopia and Malawi - not exactly the sport's leading lights.

Fortunately, shanzhai soccer has come to the rescue. Literally translated as "mountain stronghold", shanzhai usually refers to fake products or clone culture. A shanzhai national team is therefore an alternative to the real thing, a virtual B team. It is being assembled in Suzhou in the belief that "1.3 billion Chinese people can certainly find 11 good footballers", according to the website daqi.com, which is behind the initiative. Netizens are being encouraged to recruit amateur players and there are plans to hold trials in the Jiangsu province city in the coming months.