Football in China
Encyclopedia
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: zuqiu) as well as the China national football team
China national football team
The China PR national football team is the national association football team of the People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association...
. Football has been one of the most well supported sports in China, since it was introduced in the early 1900s. The national governing body
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
is the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Hong Kong
Football in Hong Kong
- History :The first football competition of Hong Kong is the Challenge Shield, which founded in 1898. Its format is similar to the FA Challenge Cup in England. The first football club of Hong Kong is Hong Kong Football Club, usually known as The Club, founded in 1886. The Club is one of the...
and Macau
Football in Macau
The sport of football in the country of Macau is run by the Associação de Futebol de Macau. The association administers the national football team as well as the national league....
have separate leagues.
The professional league is marred by match-fixing, illegal betting, and violence on and off the pitch, which the Chinese government
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
has said would take a long time to fix.
On December 21, 2009, China was awarded FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
's Development Award after successfully implementing a new nationwide grassroots football program.
The Men's National Team is ranked 77th in the world, and Women's National Team
China women's national football team
The China women's national football team represents the People's Republic of China in international women's football.- Records :China had held the record of going for 442 minutes without conceding a World Cup goal, until it was broken by Germany on September 26, 2007, when Germany beat Norway 3-0...
is ranked 13th.
Professional league
The Chinese Football Association Super League , commonly known as Chinese Super League (中超联赛) or CSL, currently known as the Pirelli Chinese Football Association Super League, is the highest tier of professional association football in ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association (CFA
CFA
-Science and technology:* Cfa is one of two symbols for the Humid subtropical climate under the Köppen climate classification system* cfa is the file extension for an Adobe Premiere Pro audio file...
).
The Super League was created by the rebranding of the former top division Chinese Football Association Jia-A League in 2004. While the league originally consisted of 12 teams, now 16 teams compete in it. The title has been won by five teams: Shenzhen Jianlibao, Dalian Shide, Shandong Luneng
Shandong Luneng
Shandong Luneng Taishan is a Chinese Super League football club owned by Shandong Luneng Group, the biggest supplier of electric energy in Shandong province. They play at the Shandong Stadium in Jinan, Shandong. The predecessor of Shandong Luneng Taishan was the Shandong Provincial team organised...
, Changchun Yatai
Changchun Yatai
Changchun Yatai is a Chinese football team. It was founded on June 6, 1996 by Jilin Yatai Group at Changchun, Jilin. Their manager is Shen Xiangfu....
and Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan
Beijing Guoan Football Club Beijing Guoan Football Club Beijing Guoan Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 北京国安 is part of CITIC Group (China International Trust and Investment Corporation). Their current home stadium is Workers Stadium and the Fengtai stadium for less popular games. The current head...
. The current Super League champion is Shandong Luneng
Shandong Luneng
Shandong Luneng Taishan is a Chinese Super League football club owned by Shandong Luneng Group, the biggest supplier of electric energy in Shandong province. They play at the Shandong Stadium in Jinan, Shandong. The predecessor of Shandong Luneng Taishan was the Shandong Provincial team organised...
.
National team
The China PR national football team is governed by the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was founded in 1924 in the Republic of ChinaRepublic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
under the auspices of the China Football Association
Chinese Taipei Football Association
Chinese Taipei Football Association is the governing body of football in the Republic of China. Its official name in Chinese is the Football Association of the Republic of China, but it is billed as the Chinese Taipei FA abroad and uses the English initials on its badge .- History :* 1936:...
and joined FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
in 1931. Following the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, the CFA was formed in the newly founded People's Republic of China. They remained affiliated with FIFA until 1958, when they withdrew, but they rejoined in 1979.
China have been runners-up at the Asian Cup
AFC Asian Cup
The AFC Asian Cup is an international association football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation . It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América. The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA...
twice: in 1984
1984 AFC Asian Cup
The 1984 AFC Asian Cup was the eighth edition of the Asian Nations Cup, the football championship of Asia . It was hosted by Singapore between December 1 and December 16. The field of ten teams was split into two groups of five...
and 2004
2004 AFC Asian Cup
The 2004 AFC Asian Cup football competition is the thirteenth staging of AFC Asian Cup. It was held from July 17 to August 7, 2004 in China. The defending champions Japan defeated China in the final in Beijing....
. Although China failed to score a goal in their first World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
appearance in 2002
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
, losing all their matches, just qualifying for the tournament has been considered the greatest accomplishment in their football history.
Football development
Football initiatives have been developed, including Vision China - a part FIFA Vision Asia - which has reached the highest standard in Asia and the quarter final of the men's competition in the 2008 Olympics. The programme covers marketing, development, footballer training, coachCoach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
and referee training, sports medicine
Sports medicine
Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...
, competitions, media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, and fans. It also includes assessments on Chinese football, planning matches and monitoring them. Goal Project for China, part of FIFA Goal Project invested in China to help build the new headquarters of the CFA.
Media coverage of football in China
Football is covered by the Chinese media. National competitions are generally televised on CCTV-5CCTV-5
CCTV-5 , also known as the Sports Channel, part of the China Central Television family of networks, is the main sports broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV-5 began broadcasting on 1 January 1995...
, the sports channel. Guangdong Television reserves rights, however, for the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
. Since 1996, CCTV-5
CCTV-5
CCTV-5 , also known as the Sports Channel, part of the China Central Television family of networks, is the main sports broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CCTV-5 began broadcasting on 1 January 1995...
has weekly programmes televising live games in the Italian Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and German Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
to Football Night (足球之夜), a programme dedicated to anything football. Shanghai's Dongfang Sports channel also has regular football coverage.
Peer-to-peer sharing programs such as PPLive
PPLive
PPTV, developed by PPLive, is a leading online TV service offering both live streaming and video-on-demand of TV programs/shows, movies, drama, sports, news and entertainment video contents. The service is accessible either from its website or from client software installation...
and PPStream
PPStream
PPS.tv is a Chinese peer-to-peer streaming video network software. Since the target users are on the Chinese mainland, there is no official English version, and the vast majority of channels are from East Asia, mostly Mainland China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore...
stream
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
live football in all of the world's major competitions, and is a wide source of football programming worldwide, even for non-Chinese speaking people.
Foreign leagues
Because of the low level of interest exhibited in the domestic football league, Chinese football fans, numbered in the hundreds of millions, often turn to major European football competitions, associating themselves most prominently with teams in the English Premier League, the Italian Serie ASerie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
and the German Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
, the three leagues who have established large fan bases in China. Chinese players going to play in European leagues attracts massive media attention, and as a result also gains a large following. Prominent examples include Sun Jihai
Sun Jihai
Jihai Sun is a Chinese association football player. He is currently playing for Chinese side Inter Xi'an and for the China national football team as a defender or a midfielder....
, formerly of Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
; Zheng Zhi
Zheng Zhi
Zheng Zhi is a Chinese professional association football player who currently plays for Guangzhou Evergrande. Starting his career as a defender, he would be moved into central midfield by his coach at Shenzhen Jianlibao and experienced immediate success there by winning the 2004 Chinese Super...
, who played for Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
; Shao Jiayi
Shao Jiayi
Shao Jiayi is a Chinese footballer currently playing for MSV Duisburg in the 2. Bundesliga. Previously, Shao played for Energie Cottbus and 1860 Munich, as well as starting his career with Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League...
, formerly of 1860 Munich, now of MSV Duisburg
MSV Duisburg
MSV Duisburg is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed "the Zebras" for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the original members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963.-Early years:...
; and Yang Chen, formerly of Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...
.
External links
- Chinese Football Association official website
- Team China Official Website
- Profile on FIFAFIFAThe Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
official website - Profile on AFCAsian Football ConfederationThe Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia. It has 46 member countries, mostly located on the Asian continent. However, due to the disputed boundary of Europe and Asia, nations such as Russia and Turkey which are located mostly in geographic Asia are...
official website