'A real battle between countries'

It's something of a cliche to say that soccer is fun to watch or play, but it's true nonetheless. China Daily spoke to a number of fans to find out what soccer means to them.

When Chen Yikan, a 29-year-old editor at the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, was five years old, he read his first soccer magazine. He was intrigued by the stories and the articles and the names of the foreign players. Later, he studied English language and literature at college and became a translator and editor at one of China's largest publishing houses.

"I identify myself as a 'fake' soccer fan in that I won't sacrifice sleep for the World Cup. It's fun to watch the games, but I appreciate them more from an aesthetic angle," he said.