As the countdown to the 2026 FIFA World Cup continues, global anticipation is soaring ahead of the biggest ever edition of the showpiece soccer event, with orders for related goods surging in Yiwu, an eastern Chinese city known as "the world's supermarket".
The expanded 2026 tournament will feature a record number of 48 teams and see the competition being hosted across three countries for the first time, with matches scheduled to take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
In the sports goods section of the Yiwu International Trade Market in Zhejiang Province, buyers from all around the world can be seen enthusiastically patrolling the huge marketplace with lengthy order lists, searching for the products they need.
With replica jerseys, memorabilia items, and top-quality sports gear all on offer, vendors are keen to tap into the fan fever ahead of the international footballing extravaganza.
For many, the World Cup is a once-every-four-years highlight, and with this year's tournament set to be bigger than ever, business opportunities are in abundance.
"Since the tournament is being hosted by three countries, the volume may be even higher than before. Orders could increase by 50 percent compared to previous World Cups. Today, we are also preparing an order to be shipped by air," said Chen Jian, a vendor at the Yiwu International Trade Market.
As sales climb, production lines are also running at full speed. In a local football factory, machines roar and workers skillfully glue and stitch, turning out brand-new footballs on the assembly line. As the 2026 World Cup fast approaches, the company's football-related sales have skyrocketed, with daily output reaching 4,000 balls and the firm seeing almost no inventory backlog.
According to customs data, exports of sports goods and equipment from Yiwu reached 2.34 billion yuan (about 340 million U.S. dollars) in January and February 2026, up 38.5 percent year on year.
The Yiwu International Trade Market has become an important center for foreign trade, housing nearly 80,000 booths offering over two million types of commodities, with the market maintaining trade ties with 233 countries and regions worldwide.
World Cup fever drives export boom from China's Yiwu as orders surge
Visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in Beijing on Tuesday that Spain and China have elevated their political dialogue to the highest level in nearly 53 years, forging a closer ties in bilateral cooperation.
Sanchez made the remarks at a press briefing regarding the outcomes of his current official visit to China from April 11 to 15.
"With this visit in 2026, we have gone a step further and established a strategic dialogue, which is the mechanism China uses to maintain a closer and more stable relationship with countries. During this visit, I met with 36 Chinese business leaders and asked them to invest in Spain and establish partnerships with our companies," Sanchez said.
"In addition to this economic agenda, Spain aims to expand and diversify its relations with China in many areas. Therefore, on this trip, we also signed eight cooperation agreements in the fields of science, innovation, university education, culture, and an aspect to which both the Spanish and Chinese governments attach particular importance -- the management of biodiversity," he said.
The Spanish prime minister pointed out that countries can develop relations on the basis of mutual respect, practical cooperation and shared prosperity. As a core member of the European Union (EU) and one of Europe's fastest-growing major economies, the prime minister added, Spain believes Europe should strengthen communication and cooperation with China on the basis of safeguarding EU interests.
"I firmly believe that it is in the interest of Spain and Europe to strengthen ties with China. We should build positive agendas with China, while developing a relationship featuring openness, respect, pragmatism and shared prosperity. This is Spain's ambition, and also, an objective of our foreign policy, which is to strengthen ties, to build bridges, and not the opposite. What we want is to actively contribute to the creation of a new global order that will definitively bring long-lasting peace to the world," Sanchez said.
The Spanish prime minister's current China visit comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Sanchez opposed the U.S. military operations against Iran and rejected a U.S. request to use Spanish military bases for operations related to Iran. During the press briefing, Sanchez also said that peace is a shared goal and Spain would work with China to firmly uphold international law and the international order.
Spanish prime minister briefs media on outcomes of China visit
