No, but governments with authoritarian tendencies, especially those with a nationalist streak, put a hard focus on international sports competitions as a matter of national pride. Starting with the Nazi German Olympics being the first televised event in human history, look at the Russian doping scandals, or how the Hungarian prime minister has a gigantic stadium in his tiny home village.

Competing in sports is okay. So is being an obsessed fan. When the government becomes an obsessed fan, that’s when the weirdness starts.

President Xi Jinping, reportedly a big football fan, once expressed his hopes to turn China into a “global football superpower”.

It is not okay to say this in an official capacity.