Listen to the heads of foreign insurance companies, and you'd be forgiven for thinking the European Cup has been moved forward two years from 2008.

The Germans say they want to be top dog among their peers in China. So do the Italians, the French and, in a more reserved way, the British.

Few appear as ambitious as Christian Molt of Allianz, who believes that he has a better chance to rule the roost than his competitors.

That Chinese consumers have a penchant for German quality, most notably Volkswagen and BMW cars, has not gone unnoticed by Molt and his colleagues.

As chief executive officer of Allianz China Life (AZCL), Molt is hoping that part of that German magic can rub off on the insurance company, which is a joint venture with new partner CITIC Trust & Investment Co, one of the nation's largest business conglomerates with diverse interests in finance, manufacturing and trading.

Unsurprisingly, the company spared no effort to promote its brand in association with the Germany 2006 World Cup that was the centre of attention for hundreds of millions of Chinese football fans around the country in June.

Too bad Germany lost to Italy at the futuristic Allianz Arena, a scale-model of which was on display in Shanghai throughout the tournament.

But Molt, a veteran Asia hand at Allianz, has remained steadfast about his goal of making the company number one among foreign insurance joint ventures on the mainland.

It looks like a tall order  hobbled by what appears to be a false start in China, AZCL now ranks a distant fourth behind Generali China Life, a joint venture between Italy's Assicurazioni Generali and China National Petroleum, American International Assurance and CITIC-Prudential.

The latest figures published by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission show that Allianz China's premium income in the first five months of 2006 totalled 377 million yuan (US$47 million), well below the 2.7 billion yuan (US$337.5 million) of market leader Generali China, the 2.6 billion yuan (US$325 million) of AIA and 594 million yuan (US$74.2 million) of CITIC-Prudential.

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