China national football team

China
	Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Wànlǐ Chángchéng ; (The Great Wall)
Association	Chinese Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Gao Hongbo
Captain	Du Wei
Most caps	Li Ming (141)
Top scorer	Hao Haidong (41)
Home stadium	Workers Stadium
FIFA code	CHN
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	84
Highest	37 (December 1998)
Lowest	108 (July 2009)
First international
	Philippines 0–1 Republic of China ; (Manila, Philippines; January 31, 1913) ; ; Finland 4–0 China PR ; (Helsinki, Finland; August 4, 1952)
Biggest win
	China PR 19–0 Guam ; (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; January 26, 2000)
Biggest defeat
	United States 5–0 China PR ; (Palo Alto, United States; April 4, 1992)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 2002)
Best result	Round 1, 2002
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (first in 1976)
Best result	Runners-Up, 1984 & 2004

The China PR national football team (simplified Chinese: 中国国家足球队; traditional Chinese: 中國國家足球隊; Pinyin:Zhōngguó Guójiā Zúqiú Duì) is the national football (soccer) team of People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association (CFA).

The China national team was founded in 1924 in the Republic of China under the auspices of the China Football Association and joined FIFA in 1931. Following the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese Football Association was formed in the newly founded People's Republic of China. This body remained part of FIFA until 1958, when it withdrew, rejoining in 1979. They have been perennial contenders for the Asian Cup, most recently finishing second in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup at home. Although China failed to score a goal in their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, losing all their matches, just qualifying for the tournament has been considered the greatest accomplishment in its football history. However, this accomplishment was mainly caused by the World Cup being held jointly in Japan and South Korea. The two host teams did not need to compete in the qualifying. Thus, China qualified for the tournament without its two long term rival teams.

After the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997, and Macau from Portugal in 1999, these two special administrative regions have continued to have their own teams, which play as "Hong Kong, China" and "Macau, China", respectively.

As football is widely followed in China, national team success is considered to be a source of national pride. Around 300 million people tuned in to broadcasts of China's World Cup 2002 matches with a staggering 170 million new television sets being bought by citizens in order to watch their nation's first World Cup appearance. There were over 250 million viewers for the 2004 Asian Cup final, the largest single-event sports audience in the country's history.^[1] The team is colloquially referred to as Team China (中国队), the National Team (国家队) or Guozu (国足, lit. "national feet").

History

1949–1978

The national team under PRC name, played their first match in a friendly against Finland on 4 August 1952, which was one of the first nations to have diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.^[2]

For nearly 30 years, the team primarily played only friendly matches with nations that recognized the PRC, such as Albania, Cambodia, United Arab Republic, Guinea, Hungary, Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, North Vietnam, Pakistan, Soviet Union and Sudan.^[2]

China also played once in the World Cup qualifying rounds in this period, in 1958, losing to Indonesia on goal average.

After re-joining in 1978

The national team began to make their way to national and international prominence in the beginning of the late—1980s through the introduction of televisions in Chinese households. Previously, the most popular international sports in China were badminton and table tennis. By 1980, China could start competing for a berth in the 1982 World Cup Finals.

Over the next 16 years, however, China missed the World Cup qualification time after time. In 1981, China lost a playoff game against the New Zealand team in a heartbreaking loss for the large home audience that followed the qualification process. During 1986 World Cup qualifying, China faced Hong Kong in Beijing in the final match of the first qualifying round on May 19, 1985, where China only needed a draw to advance. However, Hong Kong produced a 2–1 upset win, which resulted in a riot by local fans. In the 1990 World Cup qualifiers they again reached the final round of qualifying but lost to Qatar in their final group game. During the 1994 World Cup qualifiers they failed to reach the final round of qualifying, coming second behind Iraq. During the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, China was on the verge of qualifying, but lost crucial matches at home, especially the matches against Qatar and Iran.

On January 26, 2000, China beat Guam 19-0 in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification, which was a world record for the largest victory in an international football match at that time. The record was broken by Kuwait 19 days later.

Simply because of the demographics of the People's Republic of China, the team arguably has the most fans of any sporting team in the world, as with basketball. As a result, expectations soared in 2001 as China, under the direction of head coach Bora Milutinović, advanced to the World Cup finals in 2002. This was the first time in its history that China reached the finals. However, the team failed to score a single goal, losing all three group matches and was eliminated from the competition.

Recent history

In recent years, many have pointed to two main weaknesses of the team. Despite a very organized and well-drilled defense, team China lacks good strikers and creative playmakers, who can also keep possession of the ball well. The team's main tactics against stronger teams tend to be both defensive and counterattacking, with long balls to a lone striker, who is quickly dispossessed of the ball due to lack of support.

In 2004, Dutch coach Arie Haan summed up his impression of Chinese football by saying, "Chinese players are very skilled, but the problem seemed to be related to the culture and psychology of the players," and that the psychological aspect tended to strongly influence the players. Former captain Li Weifeng illustrated this when he said that the Chinese team usually expects wins against weaker opposition but quickly gets irritated when things do not go to plan. This has often been attributed to the pressure, due to massive public expectations of the team during the World Cup qualifiers, for example. Many critics also point to the complacency of the team at critical moments, especially when they are holding a lead or playing weaker teams. In the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, the team managed to only score a single goal against Hong Kong in Hong Kong, a team which China was expected to washout with goals. European coaches who have worked or been in China often cite a lack of professionalism and discipline in Chinese football as the reasons for the Chinese national team's overall weakness. An example of this is the rampant corruption of the first division of the professional Chinese football league, especially the 'black whistles' scandals involving bribed referees fixing matches. This may be seen as an extension of modern Chinese society developing in a complex world of traditional culture involving personal relationships and capitalism.

Recently, an increasing number of talented, young Chinese players have moved to Europe to gain experience in a professional setting. Many are or were key players in the national team, such as Du Wei (Celtic), Zheng Zhi (Charlton Athletic), Li Tie (mainly Everton), Sun Jihai (Manchester City and Sheffield United), Shao Jiayi (1860 Munich and Energie Cottbus), Sun Xiang (PSV), Zhang Enhua (Grimsby Town), Ma Mingyu (Perugia), Fan Zhiyi (Crystal Palace and Dundee), Li Jinyu (Nancy), Yang Chen (best performances for Eintracht Frankfurt), and Xie Hui (best performances for Alemannia Aachen). Rising star striker Dong Fangzhuo played for Manchester United, and after several successful seasons with Belgian club Royal Antwerp, his Premiership debut came in a match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Another potential star is Yu Dabao, who has been regularly scoring for the Benfica B team and is touted to break into the senior Benfica team next season. More players with European experience may yield better results for the national team. Key players Li Tie and Li Jinyu were part of the 'Jianlibao' team in the mid—1990s that trained young, talented players in Brazil.

The national team has produced some displays of controlled and creative football in friendlies, especially during the 0–0 draw against Brazil in November 2002, the 1–1 draw against Germany in May 2009, and the 1-0 win to France in June 2010. After the 0–0 draw with Brazil, Cafu complimented the Chinese performance and said they were definitely capable of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. The team, however, failed to advance through the preliminary qualification stage, losing to Kuwait on goals scored, even though China scored seven goals in a blow-out against Hong Kong in the last qualifying match. While qualifying for the 2007 Asian Cup, the team became the subject of immense criticism in the media and a national embarrassment when it scored only one goal (a Shao Jiayi penalty kick well into final injury time) against Singapore at home in Tianjin, and tied the Southeast Asian city-state in the away game. In preparation for the 2007 Asian Cup, the team spend the weeks leading up to the tournament on a tour of the United States. While the 4–1 loss to a streaking United States was not unexpected, a 1–0 loss to a Real Salt Lake team that had been winless in MLS raised many eyebrows.

In the Asian Cup 2007 tournament, the team played three inconsistent games, winning against Malaysia, drawing Iran after leading 2–0 at half time, and losing to Uzbekistan with an embarrassing 3–0 scoreline. Under high expectations, China's performance drew immense criticism on online communities, which condemned the coach Zhu Guanghu, players, along with the Chinese Football Association in general. Zhu was later replaced by Vladimir Petrović for this poor performance. Some commented that China's reliance on foreign coaches for the past decade has been an indicator of its poor domestic coach development system.^[3] In June 2008, China had another poor performance at the World Cup Qualifiers, losing against Qatar and Iraq, and therefore missed the 2010 World Cup.

On 4 June 2010 China beat France in Réunion. China won the match 1-0, thanks to a goal in the 68th minute from Deng Zhuoxiang.

Rivalries

Traditionally, China's greatest rival has been Japan (although this is not typically reciprocated from the Japanese side).^{[citation needed]} This was exemplified after the Asian Cup 2004 final, which Japan won 3–1 (accompanied by a handball), when rioting by Chinese fans erupted near the north gate of Beijing's Workers Stadium.^[4] The rioting was said to be provoked by controversial officiating and heightened anti-Japanese sentiment at the time resulting from historical tensions arising from several military conflicts between the two nations from the late-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century (see First and Second Sino-Japanese Wars), as well as from lingering controversies, such as the issue of Japan's use of comfort women during World War II. China's most recent major tournament meeting with Japan was at the 2010 East Asian Football Championship in Tokyo, where the two sides drew 0-0. China went on to win the tournament after winning its remaining two matches.

Another well-known rivalry is with neighbour Korea Republic. Although not as flammable as the rivalry with Japan, China had played 27 matches against Korea between 1978 and 2010 without winning a single match (11 draws and 16 losses). The media coined the term "Koreaphobia" to describe this embarrassing phenomenon. The record lasted for 31 years until China registered its first win on February 10, 2010 when it beat Korea 3-0 in the 2010 East Asian Football Championship, eventually going on to win the tournament.

Fixtures and results

China recently won the 2010 East Asian Football Championship tournament in 6–14 February 2010 (Final) in Tokyo, Japan.

China's next tournament is the 2011 AFC Asian Cup to be held between 7–29 January 2011 in Doha, Qatar.

Recent matches

Last five matches

Dates	Venues	Opponents	Scores	Competitions
10 February 2010	Tokyo, Japan	South Korea	3-0	2010 East Asian Football Championship
14 February 2010	Tokyo, Japan	Hong Kong	2-0	2010 East Asian Football Championship
3 March 2010	Coimbra, Portugal	Portugal	0-2	Friendly
28 April 2010	Offenbach, Germany	South Africa	cancelled^[5]	Friendly
4 June 2010	Saint-Pierre, Réunion	France	1-0	Friendly

Upcoming Matches

Dates	Venues	Opponents	Scores	Competitions
26 June 2010	Kunming, China	Tajikistan ^[6]	-	Friendly
17 November 2010	Beijing, China	Latvia ^[7]	-	Friendly
8 January 2011	Al Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Kuwait	-	2011 AFC Asian Cup
12 January 2011	Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Qatar	-	2011 AFC Asian Cup
16 January 2011	Al Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Uzbekistan	-	2011 AFC Asian Cup

Home stadium

The Workers Stadium Chinese: 工人体育场 is a multi-purpose stadium in Beijing, China. It is mostly used for football matches. The stadium was built in 1959 and it was last renovated in 2004. It currently has a capacity of 70,161.

The stadium was the main venue for the 1990 Asian Games, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held. Beijing Guoan Football Club also play their home league games at the stadium.

Media coverage

Home and away matches are shown on CCTV-5, GDTV-Sports, STV-Sports, BTV-6 and the other local sports channels.

Kits

China's home kit is all white and the away kit is all red. The team's kit is currently sponsored by Adidas. China in certain climates use special heat body cooling vests.^[8]^[9]

Honours

AFC Asian Cup

Runners-up (2): 1984, 2004

Third places (2): 1976, 1992

Asian Games

Silver medal (1): 1994

Bronze medal (2): 1978, 1998

East Asian Cup

Winners (2): 2005, 2010

Runners-up (2): 1990, 1998

Third places (2): 2003, 2008

Competition history

Pos = Position; P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against.
Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

FIFA World Cup record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1930 to 1954	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962 to 1978	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982 to 1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	First round	31	3	0	0	3	0	9
2006 to 2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/19	-	3	0	0	3	0	9

AFC Asian Cup record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1956 to 1972	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Third Place	3	4	1	1	2	2	4
1980	First round	7	4	1	1	2	9	5
1984	Runner-up	2	6	4	0	2	11	4
1988	Fourth Place	4	6	2	2	2	7	5
1992	Third Place	3	5	1	3	1	6	6
1996	Quarter-finals	6	4	1	0	3	6	7
2000	Fourth Place	4	6	2	2	2	11	7
2004	Runner-up	2	6	3	2	1	13	6
2007	First round	9	3	1	1	1	7	6
2011	Qualified	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	10/15	-	44	16	12	16	72	50

For 2011, see 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Olympic Games record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1900 to 1928	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1936	First round	12	1	0	0	1	0	2
1948	First round	14	1	0	0	1	0	4
1952 to 1956	Withdrew after qualifying	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1960 to 1976	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980 to 1984	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	First round	14	3	0	1	2	0	5
Total*	4/25	-	8	0	2	6	1	17

* Including 1988 onwards

For 1992 to 2012, see China national under-23 football team

Asian Games record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1951 to 1970	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	First round	10	3	1	0	2	7	4
1978	Third place	3	7	5	0	2	16	5
1982	Quarter-finals	11	4	2	1	1	4	3
1986	Quarter-finals	9	4	2	1	1	10	7
1990	Quarter-finals	10	4	2	0	2	8	4
1994	Runners-up	2	7	5	1	1	16	8
1998	Third place	3	8	6	0	2	24	7
Total*	9/15	-	45	29	4	12	102	43

* Including 1998 onwards

For 2002 to 2010, see China national under-23 football team

East Asian Cup record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1990	Runners-up	2	4	2	1	1	4	2
1992	Fourth place	4	3	0	1	2	2	6
1995	Fourth place	4	4	0	3	1	2	3
1998	Runners-up	2	3	2	0	1	4	2
2003	Third place	3	3	1	0	2	3	4
2005	Champions	1	3	1	2	0	5	3
2008	Third place	3	3	1	0	2	5	5
2010	Champions	1	3	2	1	0	5	0
Total		-	26	9	8	9	30	25

Far Eastern Championship Games record

Year	Result	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A
1913	Runners-up	2	2	1	0	1	2	2
1915	Champions	1	3	1	2	0	2	1
1917	Champions	1	2	2	0	0	8	0
1919	Champions	1	3	2	0	1	5	3
1921	Champions	1	2	2	0	0	5	1
1923	Champions	1	2	2	0	0	8	1
1925	Champions	1	2	2	0	0	7	1
1927	Champions	1	2	2	0	0	8	2
1930	Champions	1	2	1	1	0	8	3
1934	Champions	1	3	3	0	0	7	3
Total	10/10	9	23	18	3	2	60	17

Player history

China captains

Period	Captain	Vice Captain	Third Captain
1951	Wang Shouxian	-	-
1952–1954	Guo Hongbin	-	-
1955–1959	Sun Fucheng	-	-
1960–1964	Chen Jialiang	-	-
1965–1969	Gao Fengwen	Xu Genbao	-
1969–1972	Gao Fengwen	Qi Wusheng	Xiang Hengqing
1972–1975	Qi Wusheng	Xu Genbao	Xiang Hengqing
1976–1979	Xiang Hengqing	Chi Shangbin	He Jia
1979–1981	Chi Shangbin	Rong Zhihang	Huang Xiangdong
1981–1982	Chi Shangbin	Huang Xiangdong	Zuo Shusheng
1983–1985	Zuo Shusheng	Li Fusheng
1986–1987	Zhu Bo	Jia Xiuquan	Ma Lin
1987–1988	Jia Xiuquan	Zhu Bo	Ma Lin
1989–1992	Zhu Bo	Jia Xiuquan	Ma Lin
1993–1994	Zhu Bo	Wu Qunli	Xu Hong
1994–1996	Xu Hong
1996–1997	Fan Zhiyi	Xu Hong
1998–1999	Fan Zhiyi	Zhang Enhua
2000–2001	Ma Mingyu	Li Ming	Qi Hong
2002	Ma Mingyu	Fan Zhiyi	Jiang Jin
2003–2004	Li Weifeng	Zheng Zhi	Zhao Junzhe
2005–2006	Li Weifeng	Zhao Junzhe	Ji Mingyi
2006	Zheng Zhi	Zhao Junzhe	Ji Mingyi
2007	Zheng Zhi	Sun Jihai	Ji Mingyi
2008	Zheng Zhi	Li Weifeng	Zhao Junzhe
2009	Du Wei	Wang Xiao	Zhou Haibin
present	Du Wei

Most capped players

As of June 22, 2008, the players with the most caps for China are:

Pos	Player	Caps	Tenure
1	Li Ming	141	1991–2004
2	Jia Xiuquan	136	1982–1993
3	Fan Zhiyi	132	1987–2002
4	Xie Yuxin	120	1987–1996
5	Li Fusheng	119	1976–1984
6	Hao Haidong	116	1987–2004
7	Lin Lefeng	113	1977–1986
8	Ou Chuliang	109	1990–2002
9	Li Weifeng	105	1997–present

* The players in bold typeface are still active in football.

Top goalscorers

As of February 14, 2010, the players with the most goals scored for China are:

Pos	Player	Goals	Tenure
1	Hao Haidong	41	1987–2004
2	Liu Haiguang	36	1983–1990
3	Ma Lin	33	1984–1990
4	Li Hui	28	1983–1988
5	Su Maozhen	26	1992–2002
5	Li Jinyu	26	1996–present
7	Zuo Shusheng	23	1979–1985
8	Zhao Dayu	19	1982–1986
8	Fan Zhiyi	19	1987–2002
8	Mai Chao	19	1986–1992
11	Qu Bo	16	2000–present
12	Gu Guangming	15	1979–1985
13	Jia Xiuquan	14	1982–1993
14	Xie Yuxin	13	1987–1996
14	Li Weifeng	13	1997–present
16	Peng Weiguo	12	1992–2000
16	Huang Xiangdong	12	1977–1983
16	Ma Mingyu	12	1993–2002
16	Zheng Zhi	12	1998–present
20	Gao Hongbo	11	1992–1997
20	Yang Chen	11	1995–2004
20	Qi Hong	11	1997–2004