Chinese journeyman reaches Club World Cup

The silence in the Auckland City locker room stretched for 24 suffocating hours after its 10-0 defeat to European giant Bayern Munich in its Club World Cup opener.

For veteran Chinese winger Zhou Tong and his semiprofessional teammates, it was not just a loss, but a profound reckoning.

"Although challenging the mighty is an honor, a 10-0 scoreline is a disgrace for any footballer," Zhou said, the weight of the result palpable, even days later. "Privately, we discussed how we could do better, how to give our all against these giants."

Yet, for the 35-year-old, the only Chinese player among the 32 elite clubs in the United States, the burden carries an extra dimension.

"It's a heavy burden, but first and foremost, it's an honor," Zhou said, reflecting on his unique status representing a nation of billions. "When people talk, it might not be 'Zhou Tong', but 'that player from China', so, every word, every action, every performance on the pitch needs to project positivity. I demand more of myself."

This unexpected chapter, facing Bayern, Benfica and Boca Juniors on soccer's grandest club stage, began not on a manicured pitch, but over coffee in Auckland.

In 2023, Zhou and his family moved to New Zealand, primarily for his wife's studies. Soccer seemed an afterthought until a friend intervened. "He said: 'It's a pity you're not playing.' My form in 2022 was actually quite good," Zhou recalled.

A connection was then made with Auckland City FC. Club president Ivan Vuksich reviewed his CV and requested a meeting. "His sincerity and approachability gave me a lot of motivation," Zhou said. "Plus, Auckland City plays in the Club World Cup. I wanted to keep playing." The deal was sealed in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

Zhou experienced China's "Golden Yuan Soccer Era", when he played for clubs like Dalian Aerbin and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger during a time of explosive, unsustainable spending that temporarily raised the Chinese Super League's (CSL) global profile from the mid-2010s to the early 2020s, but left deep financial and structural problems. For him, New Zealand's regional Northern League was a stark transition.

"The sense of disparity is real," Zhou admitted, contrasting Auckland crowds of "five or six hundred "for crucial Oceania qualifiers with CSL attendances "exceeding 20,000 on average".

Yet, his perspective transformed after he had experienced the extremes: FIFA charter jets for the Club World Cup juxtaposed with bumping along in a "500,000-kilometer-old minibus" on potholed roads to play in Vanuatu, a South Pacific nation where "the tallest building was three stories high, and there were no streetlights".

"Having seen the splendor and the remotest corners of soccer, I realize its power transcends words or money," Zhou reflected, his voice gaining intensity. "Soccer connects people, changes lives, opens eyes to the world. That's its magic, like a universal language."