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China, the world’s most populous country, is ranked 90th in the men’s Fifa world rankings – just ahead of Curaçao and Luxembourg
On a hot, humid Thursday night in Saitama, China’s national football team hit rock bottom.
With a minute left on the clock and trailing Japan 6-0, Chinese defenders were likely wishing for the final whistle.
But Japan’s Takefusa Kubo was not feeling charitable. After watching his team-mates toy with their opponents for a while, he received a pass on the edge of the Chinese box and scored Japan’s seventh goal.
The ball rocketed into the net, and the man known as „Japanese Messi“ condemned China to their worst-ever defeat in a World Cup qualifier.
The 7-0 loss in September – described as „rock-bottom“ by a Shanghai-based newspaper – followed a series of humiliating defeats.
But the worst was yet to come.
A week later, dozens of players, coaches, and administrators were arrested for gambling, match-fixing, and bribery as part of a corruption probe.
And the defeats continued. On Tuesday, Australia defeated China 2-0, placing them at the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group.
It wasn’t long ago that China had ambitions of becoming a footballing superpower.
The world’s largest population, a thriving economy, and a determined Communist Party led by an avid football fan, President Xi Jinping. What could go wrong?
Apparently, quite a lot.
Xi Jinping’s three wishes
When Xi came to power in 2012, his love for the sport spurred a drive to reform and improve Chinese football. His dream, he once said, was for China to qualify for the World Cup, host it and, ultimately, win it. These were his „three wishes“.
But a decade later, even Xi seemed to have lost faith. While making small talk with Thailand’s prime minister on the sidelines of an international summit in 2023, the Chinese president was heard saying that China had „got lucky“ in a recent victory against Thailand.
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Avid fan Xi Jinping dreamed of turning his country into a footballing powerhouse
„When China’s government puts its mind to something, it very rarely fails,“ says Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based sports writer. „Look at electric vehicles, look at the Olympics. Practically any sector you can think of, China is right up there.“
But football, it seems, could not thrive in the grip of the Communist Party.
A key government report in 2015 noted that The Chinese Football Association (CFA) must have „legal autonomy,“ and should be „independent“ of the General Administration of Sport (GAS).
Even Xi admitted that if China wanted to succeed, then the Party would have to do what it seldom does: let go.
And yet, Beijing didn’t let go.
„China’s failure in football has become a national embarrassment and figuring out the reasons has become a national obsession,“ Rowan Simons, author of Bamboo Goalposts: One Man’s Quest to Teach the People’s Republic of China to Love Football, told the BBC.
„But to me, the reasons are pretty clear and they tell you a lot about how the country is run.“
The problem, he and others argue, is that China’s one-party state imposes decisions from the top. While this is effective for economic growth, it yields poor results in competitive team sports.
Although Fifa prohibits state interference, Chinese football is rife with political appointments. This is common in China, where the Party controls most aspects of public life.
The current president of the CFA, Song Cai, is also a Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party. His work, in turn, is overseen by a senior government official at the GAS.
„Everything has to report upwards to Communist Party bosses. It basically means that non-football people are making football decisions,“ Mr Dreyer says. „Football has to be grassroots-led. You start at the bottom of the pyramid and the talent starts to funnel up to the top.“
All major footballing nations have a „pyramid“ of leagues. The elite professional clubs sit at the top, supported by a deep pool of semi-professional and amateur teams, all of whose players are vying to work their way up.
Such a pyramid thrives on a culture of playing football, en masse, for fun. The larger the pool to draw from, the better the players at the top will be.
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Not enough kids are playing football for China to produce elite-level players, Mr Dreyer says
„If you look at every country where football is really successful, the sport has grown organically as a grassroots activity over the past 100 years,“ Mr Simons says. „Professional football in China has continually failed because it’s supported by nothing – their pyramid is upside down.“
The statistics bear this out: England’s 1.3 million registered players dwarf China’s fewer-than-100,000 footballers. This is inspite of China’s population being 20 times larger than England’s.
„Kids here don’t grow up with a ball at their feet. Without that, you’re not going to produce elite talent,“ Mr Dreyer says.
Top-level football in Europe and South America traces its origins to streets and parks in every town and village. In China, however, the push began in Beijing.
It wasn’t until the 1990s that the government set up the country’s first professional league. Getty Images established a few elite clubs in major cities but overlooked grassroots development. Officials in the top-down system often prioritize short-term gains over long-term progress, hindering genuine improvement. Some foreign players in China note that the heavily controlled system limits young players‘ natural understanding of the game. Despite a deep love for football in China, the men’s national team has been a constant disappointment, while the women’s team has been a source of pride. The Chinese Super League, once attracting big-name players and thriving on investments, has faced a decline with many clubs folding due to economic slowdown and lack of commitment from investors. Corruption has also plagued Chinese football, with high-profile figures like former national team coach Li Tie being jailed for bribery. The documentary revealing corruption in Chinese football aired on state broadcaster CCTV, signaling authorities‘ serious concerns about graft within the sport. Getty Images
Jahrzehnte lange Investitionen in die Infrastruktur und Ausbildung haben China von einem sportlichen Entwicklungsland zu einer medaillenreichen Maschine geführt, die kürzlich mit 40 Goldmedaillen bei den Olympischen Spielen in Paris die Vereinigten Staaten gleichgestellt hat.
Aber viele davon sind Individualsportarten – Gewichtheben, Schwimmen, Tauchen – die weniger Ressourcen erfordern und im Vergleich zu einem Spiel wie Fußball weniger Wert auf gemeindegeführte Graswurzelbemühungen legen.
Sie sind auch weniger lukrativ und daher weniger anfällig für Korruption und Missmanagement.
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Die 7:0-Niederlage gegen Japan war das neueste in einer langen Reihe peinlicher Ergebnisse für China
Während Chinas Wirtschaft unter einem anhaltenden Abschwung leidet, stehen seine Beamten vor größeren Herausforderungen als Fußballprobleme.
Aber das ist nur ein schwacher Trost für die Fans.
Die Niederlage gegen Japan hat besonders wehgetan. Während Japan in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten von Erfolg zu Erfolg gegangen ist, ist es China nicht gelungen, sich für eine einzige Weltmeisterschaft zu qualifizieren.
Am Tag nach der Niederlage ließ die Oriental Sports Daily keine Zweifel: „Wenn der Geschmack der Bitterkeit sein Höchstmaß erreicht, bleibt nur noch Taubheit.“
Laut Herrn Dreyer ist Japans Ansatz dem Chinas entgegengesetzt: eine langfristige Vision, ein Mangel an politischer Einmischung und eine geschäftlich kluge Vereinsstruktur.
„Dennoch ist die Fan-Kultur hier [in China] immer noch bemerkenswert gut“, fügt er hinzu. „Sie verdienen so viel mehr.“
Ihr Enttäuschung zeigte sich nach der Niederlage gegen Australien am Dienstag – aber auch ihr Humor.
„Es scheint, als sei die Leistung der Nationalmannschaft so konstant wie eh und je“, schrieb ein Fan in den sozialen Medien. Ein anderer machte sich darüber lustig, dass, wenn China wirtschaftlich weiter gedeihen möchte, sein Fußballteam leiden muss, damit es ein Gleichgewicht im „nationalen Glück“ gibt.
Möglicherweise haben sie sich damit abgefunden, was ein beliebter chinesischer Journalist in seinem Blog nach dem Sieg Japans über China geschrieben hat.
Fußball „kann nicht durch Oden oder Geschichten gefördert werden“, stellte er fest. „Es braucht Fähigkeiten und körperliches sowie taktisches Training. Es kann nicht durch Politik erreicht werden.“
„