A super-typhoon heading towards the coast of China has disrupted the women's footballing World Cup and prompted the evacuation of Shanghai of 200,000 people.

The winds of Typhoon Wipha were gusting at up to 198km/h (123mph) the Xinhua news agency reported, as it brushed past northern Taiwan this morning and moved northwest towards China's eastern province of Zhejiang at about 20km/h, building in strength all the time.

“East China, including the commercial hub of Shanghai, is preparing for what may be the most destructive typhoon in a decade,” said Xinhua.

Fifa and local organisers said that tomorrow's crucial Brazil v Denmark group match had had to be postponed until Thursday, as had the Norway-Ghana showdown, which is also being relocated from Shanghai to Hangzhou.

The crunch game between the United States, the world number ones, and Nigeria, the Africa champions, will go ahead in Shanghai later today, before the storm is due to make landfall at around midnight local time (1700BST).

The Hong Kong Observatory chart showed Wipha heading directly for Zhejiang, where it was expected to sweep north towards Shanghai, China's financial centre, during the night. China’s National Meteorological Centre described the storm as a “super-typhoon”.

About 200,000 people living in exposed areas in Shanghai, a city with a population of more than14 million, are to be moved to temporary shelter before this evening.

Tens of thousands of boats and ships have returned to harbour in Zhejiang, where seaside resorts and maritime businesses were being evacuated and ferry services suspended, state media said. Inland areas were also facing the prospect of floods and landslides caused by torrential rain.

“Wipha will hit our province head on and the areas affected will be the most economically developed and densely populated,” the Zhejiang provincial government advised. “Strong winds will come with heavy rainfall. The relief work will be complicated and grave.”

The edge of Wipha grazed northern Taiwan earlier today, bringing downpours and prompting schools, offices and markets to close. The large northern port of Keelung stopped all traffic until further notice, and five airlines cancelled international flights.

The disrupted football matches are crucial to deciding which teams qualify for the quarter-finals in the women's World Cup tournament, which is being played in five Chinese cities.

Moving the matches means that Brazil - who are almost certain to qualify from Group D - and potential qualifiers Denmark will have one fewer rest day before they have to play a quarter-final game on the weekend.

Norway, currently second in their group, face the added disruption of having their match relocated. Ghana cannot qualify for the last eight.

North Korea's game against Sweden in Chengdu city today, Australia v Canada tomorrow in Chengdu, and China against New Zealand in Tianjin city remain unchanged, as their venues are not in the typhoon's path.

Wipha - the word is a female name in Thai - is not however expected to be the biggest typhoon to hit China in a decade. Last August Typhoon Saomai killed 436 people in southeast China, and was labelled the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years.

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