The Chinese soccer fans don't care much about the women's soccer. I think that's the biggest problem.
Further WWC '03 developments Perhaps this could be an ongoing WWC '03 update thread? Here are some recent developments. From the People's Daily: Organizing Committee for 2003 Women's World Cup Set up in Beijing The Chinese organizing committee for the 2003 Woman's World Cup by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was formally established in Beijing, January 21, which opened its first working conference on the same day. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200301/22/eng20030122_110590.shtml I found the last sentence of this article interesting, particularly in light of Xu Ming's potential capitalization of the WUSA: "Last year the South Korea and Japan successfully hosted the men's world cup, said the committee, and one year later, the women's world cup will be held in China, which will also kick off a "century celebration" since the year 2004 marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of FIFA. At that time China will once again leap into world attention and show the world that China is capable of completing things done well by the Koreans and Japanese, and even better." In other news, the final match schedule has been set: China confirms schedule of FIFA 2003 Women's World Cup http://www.womensoccer.com/refs/afc-refs/afc-chinsched_21jan03.html Which will be more meaningful once the draw is held: Women's World Cup Draw Set for Next May in Central China http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200208/08/eng20020808_101133.shtml