Importance Score: 82 / 100 π’
China’s Football Fortunes: From World Cup Dreams to Dismal Defeats
In Saitama, on a sweltering Thursday evening, the Chinese national football team plumbed new depths. Trailing Japan 6-0 with mere moments remaining, China’s defenders likely yearned for the final whistle’s merciful conclusion. However, Japan’s Takefusa Kubo displayed no leniency. After his teammates had thoroughly outplayed their rivals, he received a pass at the edge of the penalty area and unleashed a powerful shot, securing Japan’s seventh goal. Theη whizzed into the net, condemning China to their most crushing loss in a World Cup qualifying match. This 7-0 rout in September, deemed “rock-bottom” by a Shanghai daily, followed a year plagued by demoralizing defeats, including setbacks against Oman, Uzbekistan, and Hong Kong. Yet, even greater turmoil was on the horizon.
A week later, law enforcement detained numerous players, coaches, and officials amid allegations of gambling, match manipulation, and bribery, stemming from a two-year investigation into corruption within domestic football. The losing streak continued, with Australia defeating China 2-0 in Hangzhou, solidifying China’s position at the base of their World Cup qualifying group. It was not long ago that China harbored aspirations of becoming a global football powerhouse.
With the world’s largest population, a vibrant economy, and the unwavering dedication of the Communist Party, led by fervent football enthusiast President Xi Jinping, what could possibly go amiss? Evidently, a considerable amount.
Xi Jinping’s Footballing Vision
Upon assuming power in 2012, Xi Jinping’s passion for football ignited a campaign to overhaul and elevate Chinese football. His vision, articulated on multiple occasions, encompassed China qualifying for, hosting, and ultimately winning the World Cup β his celebrated “three wishes.”
Yet, a decade later, even Xi’s optimism appeared to wane. During informal discussions with Thailand’s Prime Minister at a 2023 international summit, the Chinese President remarked that China had been “fortunate” in a recent victory over Thailand.
Obstacles to Footballing Success
“When China’s government sets its sights on an objective, it seldom falters,” observes Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based sports journalist. “Consider electric vehicles, or the Olympic Games. Across virtually any sector, China is a leading force.”
However, football, it seems, has struggled to flourish under the Communist Party’s control.
A pivotal government report in 2015 emphasized that the Chinese Football Association (CFA) required “legal autonomy” and should operate “independently” from the General Administration of Sport (GAS).
Even Xi acknowledged that for China to achieve footballing prominence, the Party would need to adopt an uncharacteristic approach: relinquishing control.
Despite this recognition, Beijing did not loosen its grip.
“China’s footballing predicament has morphed into a national embarrassment, prompting intense scrutiny into the underlying causes,” Rowan Simons, author of “Bamboo Goalposts: One Man’s Quest to Teach the People’s Republic of China to Love Football,” stated to the BBC.
“However, the root issues are quite evident and reveal much about the nation’s governance.”
The central challenge, he and others contend, is the imposition of top-down directives inherent in China’s one-party system. While effective for economic expansion, this approach proves detrimental in competitive team sports.
Despite FIFA regulations against governmental interference, Chinese football remains entangled in political appointments. This is commonplace in China, where the Party exerts influence over most facets of public life.
The current CFA president, Song Cai, simultaneously holds the position of Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party. His responsibilities are, in turn, overseen by a senior government official within the GAS.
“Ultimately, all decisions ascend to Communist Party leaders. This effectively means that individuals without football expertise are dictating football strategy,” Mr. Dreyer explains. “Football development must be grassroots-driven. It commences at the base of the pyramid, with talent progressively ascending to the elite level.”
All established footballing nations possess a league “pyramid.” Elite professional clubs occupy the apex, supported by a broad foundation of semi-professional and amateur teams, whose players aspire to climb the ranks.
Such a pyramid thrives on a culture of widespread football participation, pursued for enjoyment. A larger talent pool naturally enhances the quality of players at the highest levels.
Lack of Grassroots Football Development
“Observing any nation where football prospers, the sport’s growth has been organically rooted in grassroots activity for over a century,” Mr. Simons asserts. “Professional football in China consistently falters due to a lack of foundational support β their pyramid is inverted.”
Statistics corroborate this assessment: England boasts 1.3 million registered players, contrasting sharply with China’s meager count of fewer than 100,000 footballers, despite China’s population being twenty times larger than England’s.
“Children here do not grow up playing football instinctively. Without this fundamental exposure, producing elite talent is improbable,” Mr. Dreyer emphasizes.
Top-tier football in Europe and South America originates from informal matches in streets and parks across towns and villages. In China, however, the initiative commenced in Beijing.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that the government established the nation’s inaugural professional league. This initiative created a limited number of top-tier clubs in major cities but neglected grassroots development.
Driven to impress superiors, officials within this hierarchical system predictably favor “short-term” solutions, prioritizing immediate results over sustained, long-term improvement, Mr. Dreyer elucidates.
Foreign players who have experienced Chinese football firsthand note that the heavily controlled system stifles the organic development of young players’ intuitive understanding of the game.
A European player currently active in China, preferring anonymity, shared with the BBC that while many Chinese players possess “technical proficiency,” they often lack “football IQ” in critical match situations.
“Creativity and fundamental decision-making, skills acquired instinctively during childhood, are less prevalent here,” the player observed.
‘I’m Very Sorry’: Shattered Aspirations
This is not to imply a lack of genuine football enthusiasm in China.
While the men’s national team, currently ranked 90th globally, is perceived as a recurring disappointment, the women’s team, ranked 17th, has been a consistent source of national pride for years.
Many in China consider them the “true” national team, and in 2023, a record 53 million viewers tuned in to watch them play β and lose 6-1 β to England at the World Cup.
The men’s Super League boasts the highest average attendance among Asian leagues. During its zenith in the 2010s, it attracted prominent international players, fueled by substantial investment from state-owned enterprises and a robust economy.
However, this era proved transient.
Financial Instability and Club Demise
Since the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent economic deceleration in China, over 40 professional clubs have collapsed as state-backed corporations curtailed their investments. Private sector commitment has also proven unreliable.
In 2015, the Suning Appliance Group, former owner of Italian powerhouse Inter Milan, acquired Jiangsu FC. The club subsequently clinched the Super League title in 2020. Yet, mere months later, Suning declared the club’s closure to refocus on its retail operations.
The downfall of Guangzhou Evergrande, historically China’s most successful club, provides another stark example.
Financed by real estate conglomerate Evergrande Group, they achieved consistent success under the guidance of Italian legends like Marcello Lippi and Fabio Cannavaro. However, while achieving domestic and Asian dominance, their parent company overextended itself in an inflated property market.
Evergrande now bears the unenviable title of the world’s most indebted property developer and embodies China’s real estate crisis, burdened by liabilities exceeding $300 billion (Β£225 billion).
Its former club, under new ownership, was expelled from the league in January. Despite years of lavish spending, the eight-time champions continue to grapple with substantial debt.
Corruption Scandal Engulfs Football
Financial woes are not the sole crisis plaguing Chinese football. Its rapid ascent spawned another significant issue: corruption.
“I deviated from the correct path. I was simply conforming to prevailing norms at the time,” confessed Li Tie, former manager of China’s national men’s team, in a 2024 documentary.
In this revealing documentary, Li made a startling admission: for years, he engaged in match-fixing and paid bribes to secure coveted positions, including a 3 million yuan (Β£331,000, $418,500) payment to become national team coach in 2019.
Dressed in somber black attire, he marked a written confession with his fingerprint, stating, “I’m deeply sorry.”
China’s national team was compelled to view this documentary, produced by state broadcaster CCTV, during preparations for the Asian Cup in Qatar last year.
This primetime exposΓ©, co-produced by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), inaugurated a four-part series on corruption in China titled “Continued Efforts, Deepening Progress.”
The series featured numerous Chinese officials confessing β always on camera β to extensive corruption across diverse sectors.
Broadcasting the football episode first underscored the authorities’ profound concern regarding corruption within the sport.
Li, a former World Cup participant and ex-Everton player, represents the most prominent figure apprehended amidst an unprecedented wave of anti-corruption arrests in Chinese football last year.
In December, he received a 20-year prison sentence.
Public Shaming and Fan Disillusionment
Former CFA chairman Chen Xuyuan and ex-deputy director of the GAS, Du Zhaocai, were also publicly shamed in the documentary.
“The corruption of these officials is heartbreaking,” one fan lamented to CCTV. “I’m not surprised,” remarked another.
The documentary resonated with sentiments expressed by a former national team player in an anonymous 2015 BBC radio interview, who described a system of “open bidding” among players for squad selection.
“I could have earned many more caps, but I lacked the necessary funds,” he disclosed.
It would take another decade for football corruption to erupt into public consciousness, potentially triggered by China’s consistently poor on-field performances.
Contrast with Success in Individual Sports
The struggles of China’s men’s football team are particularly conspicuous given the successes of other sports within the nation.
Decades of investment in infrastructure and training have transformed China from a sporting backwater into a consistent medal-winning force, recently equaling the United States with 40 gold medals at the Paris Olympics.
However, many of these triumphs are in individual sports β weightlifting, swimming, diving β which demand fewer resources and, crucially, less emphasis on community-based grassroots initiatives compared to team sports like football.
These individual sports are also less financially lucrative and, consequently, less susceptible to corruption and mismanagement.
Diminished Fortunes and Fan Discontent
As China’s economy grapples with a prolonged downturn, authorities face more pressing challenges than footballing disappointments.
But this offers little solace to devoted fans.
The defeat to Japan was particularly painful. While Japan has steadily progressed over the past two decades, China has failed to qualify for a single World Cup.
In the aftermath of the loss, the Oriental Sports Daily minced no words: “When bitterness reaches its peak, only numbness remains.”
According to Mr. Dreyer, Japan’s approach is diametrically opposed to China’s: prioritizing long-term planning, minimizing political meddling, and fostering a commercially viable club structure.
“Even so, fan engagement here [in China] remains remarkably strong,” he adds. “They deserve significantly better.”
Their disappointment was palpable following the defeat against Australia, yet so was their dark humor.
“It appears the national team’s performance remains consistently poor,” one fan commented on social media. Another quipped that if China intends to maintain economic prosperity, its football team must endure failure to maintain “national equilibrium.”
Perhaps they have resigned themselves to the sentiment expressed by a popular Chinese journalist in his blog post after the Japan match.
Football “cannot be elevated through empty praise or fabricated narratives,” he observed. “It demands skill, rigorous physical conditioning, and tactical acumen. It cannot be achieved through political maneuvering.”