Fifa World Cup 2018

France beat Croatia in an epic World Cup final in Russia last night, but the victory was a costly one for Chinese home appliance maker Vatti. As soon as the match ended, the Guangdong-based company, best known for its kitchen stoves and ventilation hoods, said it would honor a promise to refund $12 million worth of products sold if France won the World Cup. The cost of the refund is being shared between the company and its local distributors.  Vatti launched its “victory package” marketing campaign at the end of May promising “free refunds for a French victory,” two months after it became an official sponsor of the French national team in the Greater China region. The company says the refun

Chinese police have broken up an illegal World Cup gambling ring hosting more than $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency bets. It’s the the first major sports betting crime involving digital money in the country. Police in southern Guangdong province said in an online statement on Thursday that they had apprehended six major suspects of the syndicate, frozen about $750,000 in their bank accounts, and seized more than $1.5 million worth of cryptocurrencies they own. The gambling platform ran on the so-called dark web, which isn’t indexed by traditional search engines. It only accepted cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, according to Guangdong police. During the eight mont

The Chinese stock market is plunging, and the World Cup is serving up surprise result after surprise result. These turns of events are so drastic that one housing estate in eastern China has taken precautions against heightened emotions. It has locked its access to its rooftops, saying it did so to prevent suicides by people who had lost money betting on the soccer World Cup or investing in the stock market. The estate in Weifang, in the province of Shandong, locked entrances to rooftops with iron chains, according to a clip seen on viral news site PearVideo on June 23. An employee of the building’s management told PearVideo it was “in case some residents were obsessed with negative thinkin

Chinese soccer fans have no problem cheering for Germany, Brazil or Argentina at the World Cup, but there is one team where it’s not so clear cut – Japan. In a sport traditionally dominated by European and South American countries, Japan has stood out as Asia’s best-performing team so far in the tournament. It defeated Colombia 2:1 last week, making history as the first-ever Asian side to beat any South American team at the World Cup. On Sunday, Japan came from behind twice to reach a 2:2 draw with Senegal, leaving both teams within reach of a spot in the knockout round. At the last World Cup in 2014, no Asian team made it to the final 16. China’s national team is not in the running this ye

Chinese soccer fans aren’t seeing their national team at the World Cup in Russia, but they’re certainly feeling their country’s presence – pitchside. A major Chinese sponsor of the tournament has come under fire for putting up advertising boards on the sidelines which read “Hisense TV, China’s No. 1.” Social media users have accused Hisense, the third largest television maker in the world, of ruining their game-watching fun with a stupid slogan – and violating the country’s advertising laws. Soccer is one of China’s most beloved sports in China, but despite its the popularity and massive state investment in the country’s soccer league, so far its international side has not distinguished its

The 2018 soccer FIFA World Cup in Rusia is only a couple of months away.  In this factory in southeast China, hundreds of World Cup trophies are being made. Well, the official replicas, anyway.  Find out how it's done.