In the world’s most populous nation, futsal is a sport on the rise. From the mega-cities of Shanghai and Beijing on the eastern coast through the bustling southern province of Guangdong and interior hotspots of Hubei and Henan, men, women, boys and girls are all taking up the sport.

There’s a fully professional league at the top of the pyramid and amateur divisions below with a feeling that the nation could be sitting on a volcanic level of growth. The trick now is translating that burgeoning interest into results at international level.

Demographics alone suggest that China should be a dominant player on the court, but that’s far from the case. Forget global domination. China has struggled to make an impact at continental level. The current crop of stars are nevertheless dreaming of changing all that.

One of the men charged with sparking the Chinese futsal flame is Xu Yang and, as he told FIFA, he has a burning desire to return his nation to the sport’s top table after a 16-year absence.

“China has only participated in the World Cup on three occasions and not since 2008, and now it is our responsibility to return to the World Cup,” he said. “As a Chinese player I’m fully aware of this and it’s a driving motivation for me and my team-mates. Every time I step onto the court, and every time I sing the national anthem, I know that we must do all we can to deliver good results.”

As Xu also knows, the time for results is now, with the AFC Futsal Asian Cup getting under way in Thailand later this month. The top four nations at the continental championship will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ in Uzbekistan later this year.

Drawn in a difficult group containing host nation Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar and with only the top two progressing, 31-year-old Xu knows there’s little for margin for error but is confident that China’s lengthy preparation will lead to positive results.

“We have already had two camps and played a series of friendly matches against European teams, and we’ll have further warm-ups when we arrive in Thailand,” he said. “For sure the group is strong and each match will be difficult, but we believe that we can get the results we need to have success at the Asian Cup and qualify for the World Cup.”

With star Ding Shunjie dealing with injury, the burden of leading China both on and off the court will likely fall to Xu. The influential pivot was the top scorer in the Chinese Super League last year and is a former Chinese Futsal Player of the Year. He told FIFA that he’s ready to bear the weight of expectation in a nation hungry for international progress.

“Making the World Cup with China is my lifelong dream – it’s why I play futsal,” he said. “When I started playing I told myself that I hope China can one day stand on the world stage. Futsal is growing so fast in China – the foundation and development is good in both big and small cities, and in most schools and universities you can find the sport being played.”

Many of the current squad were toddlers the last time that China reached the World Cup – and they’ve never reached the final of the Asian Cup. But if they need any more inspiration they can simply look to current coach Li Xin, who was a part of that 2008 generation.

Li has looked to find a balance between youth and experience and there is plenty of quality in the Chinese ranks, including a player in Chen Zhiheng who is known as ‘The Bullet’ for the power of his shots. That is another reason why Xu feels that China are close to finally arriving on the international stage.

“We’re getting into the rhythm of international matches and we have a really promising side with both younger players and older ones. Futsal is my life, it’s all I do. I know that if we can stay unified, focussed and fight for each other then we can achieve our goals.”