Chinese national soccer team / world championships

China
中華人民共和國 / 中华人民共和国, Pinyin Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó

World Cup record goalscorer:	none
World Cup record players:	8 players (3 each)
Rank :	76
Balance sheet
3 World Cup games 0 wins 0 draws 3 defeats 0: 9 goals
statistics
First World Cup game PR China 0: 2 Costa Rica Gwangju ( KOR ); June 4, 2002
Biggest World Cup defeat PR China 0: 4 Brazil Seogwipo ( KOR ); June 8, 2002
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 2002 )
Best results	Preliminary round 2002
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Chinese national soccer team at world championships . While the women's national team of the People's Republic of China has long been one of the best women's teams in the world, has participated in six World Cup finals and even reached the World Cup final once, the men's national team has so far only been able to compete for one World Cup final - the so far only in Asia - qualify. In the all-time table of the World Cup finals, China is the worst Asian team in 76th place and is one of the five teams without scoring and one of the ten teams without points. The team of the Republic of China has not yet qualified for the World Cup, but has not competed in all qualifications either.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				not a FIFA member
1934	Italy	not participated
1938	France	not participated
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification of Indonesia failed, but that could not qualify well.
1962	Chile	not participated				not a FIFA member
1966	England	not participated				not a FIFA member
1970	Mexico	not participated				not a FIFA member
1974	Germany	not participated				not a FIFA member
1978	Argentina	not participated				not a FIFA member
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification in the final tournament of Kuwait and after playoff to New Zealand failed.
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Hong Kong failed, but which also could not qualify.
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates failed.
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round on Iraq failed, which also failed to qualify.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification in the 2nd round, Saudi Arabia and Iran failed.
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	Costa Rica , Brazil , Turkey	31.	Bora Milutinović	After 3 defeats with 0: 9 goals eliminated as bottom group.
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the 2nd round because of a less scored goal to Kuwait , which could not qualify either.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification in the third round, Australia and Qatar failed, which also failed to qualify.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the third round of qualification , China met Iraq , Jordan and Singapore and could not prevail against the two teams from the East.
2018	Russia	not qualified				In qualifying , the team met Iran , South Korea and Uzbekistan in the third round , as well as Qatar and Syria in the second round . As fifth in the group, the Chinese missed the World Cup finals.
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships)

• Not qualified: 10 × (48%; 1958, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
• No participation: 10 × (58%; 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1978)
• Athletic qualification: 1 × (5% or 9% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 1 × (5%; 2002)

World Cup tournaments

World Championships 1930 to 1954

The Chinese Football Association was founded in 1924, but did not join FIFA until 1931, so that the team could not take part in the first World Cup. Participation in the following world championships was waived until 1954.

World Championship 1958

The People's Republic of China wanted to qualify for the World Cup in Sweden for the first time and had to play against Indonesia in the qualification . Indonesia had previously progressed without a fight, as the Republic of China had withdrawn in order not to have to play the People's Republic in the next round. The first World Cup qualifier was lost on May 12, 1957 in Jakarta with 0-2. In the second leg on June 2, 1957, a 4: 3 succeeded in Beijing . Since the goal difference did not count at first, there was a playoff in Rangoon , which ended 0-0 afterwards, whereupon the better goal difference counted and Indonesia advanced one round. Indonesia then withdrew, however, because Israel did not want to play in a neutral place - as requested by Indonesia. Turkey, Egypt and Sudan also refused to face Israel. As a result, Israel was actually qualified for the World Cup finals in Sweden without a fight, but FIFA determined a substitute opponent with Wales; and this prevailed against Israel. After the Football Association of the Republic of China was admitted to FIFA, the Football Association of the People's Republic resigned.

World Championships 1962 to 1978

Since the Chinese Football Association was no longer a member of FIFA, the team of the People's Republic could not participate in the qualifications for the World Cups from 1962 to 1978.

World Championship 1982

In the course of the ping-pong diplomacy , the Chinese sports federations had rejoined the international federations and after they forced the Republic of China (Taiwan) to compete as "Chinese Taipei", the Chinese national football team was able to take part in international competitions again and thus also in the Qualification for the World Cup in Spain . At the qualifying tournament in Hong Kong , China first met Hong Kong in a "division game" and won 1-0. In the next round, China won 3-0 against Macau and 1-0 against Japan . In the semi-finals, Hong Kong was the opponent again and after a 0-0 draw, China won 4-2 on penalties . The final of the tournament was won 4-2 after extra time against North Korea . In the following final tournament, China then had to compete against Kuwait , New Zealand and Saudi Arabia , with home and away legs being played in the participating countries. In the end, China and New Zealand both had 7: 5 points and were the same in goal difference, so a play-off in Singapore had to decide who was allowed to go to the World Cup alongside group winners Kuwait. New Zealand won 2-1 and qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

1986 World Championship

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , China met Hong Kong, Macau and Brunei in a group , but only finished second after losing the last group game in Beijing 2-1 to Hong Kong. Hong Kong then lost in the play-offs twice against Japan, which then lost twice to South Korea , with which South Korea was qualified as the winner of the East Asia zone for the first time after 1954. Iraq qualified from the West Asia zone, qualifying for the first and to this day also last time for a World Cup finals.

World Cup 1990

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy , China was able to prevail against Iran (due to the better goal difference), Bangladesh and Thailand in the first group stage and only lost points in the 2: 3 defeat in Iran. In the final group stage, China came in fourth behind South Korea, the United Arab Emirates - who qualified for the first time - and Qatar, ahead of Saudi Arabia and North Korea.

World Championship 1994

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA , China failed in the first round in a tournament in which the first round was held in Jordan and the second round in the People's Republic. With one point behind, Iraq was only in second place, as in addition to the first game against Iraq, the first game against Yemen was also lost. Only against Pakistan and Jordan were both games won. For the final tournament in the USA, South Korea and Saudi Arabia qualified from the AFC zone.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , China eliminated Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam in the first round and only lost a point in the 0-0 win against Tajikistan. Saudi Arabia and Iran were stronger in the second round, scoring eight goals against China and ultimately qualifying for the World Cup in the intercontinental playoffs against Australia . Only Qatar and Kuwait had fewer points than China. From the AFC zone, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Iran qualified for the final tournament in France.

World Championship 2002

→ Main article : Soccer World Cup 2002 / China

China then qualified for the first time for the first World Cup in Asia . In the first qualifying round , China prevailed with six wins against Indonesia , the Maldives and Cambodia . The second round was also successful for the team against the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan , Qatar and Oman and they only lost the last game in Uzbekistan, when the qualification was already certain.

In South Korea, the Chinese, who were looked after by Bora Milutinović and who was the fifth country to take part in a World Cup, met Costa Rica in their first World Cup game and lost 2-0. Then they had no chance in the game against record world champions Brazil and lost 4-0. The last game against Turkey , which was back for the first time since 1954, was lost 3-0 and China said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 20 years.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany , China only had to compete in the second round and failed due to a fewer goal scored by Kuwait . Both had won their home games against each other 1-0 and both games against Hong Kong and Malaysia . But Kuwait could not prevail in the third round either. From the AFC zone, South Korea, Japan and Iran qualified for the final tournament in Germany.

World Championship 2010

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa , China had to face Myanmar in the first round , won 7-0 and 4-0 and qualified for the third round. In this, China only took the last place in the group behind Australia , Qatar and Iraq , but at least won the last game in Australia 1-0. From the AFC zone, Australia, South Korea, North Korea and Japan qualified for the final tournament in South Africa.

World Championship 2014

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , China only had to compete in the second round and won 7-2 and 6-1 against Laos . In the third round Iraq and Jordan were stronger and only points supplier Singapore weaker. From the AFC zone, Australia, South Korea and Japan qualified for the final tournament in Brazil.

World Championship 2018

In qualifying , the team met Bhutan , Hong Kong , Qatar and the Maldives in the second round . With five wins, two draws and only one defeat, China was fourth-best group runner-up and just reached the third round. In this, Iran , South Korea , Uzbekistan , again Qatar and Syria were the opponents. In the end, the Chinese finished in fifth place with three wins and three draws and four defeats. At the same time, if the other games went well, they still had the chance to at least reach the playoff games of the third group until the last matchday. They were able to win their last game, but could not improve because of the results of the other games in the table, as the Syrians and Uzbeks played a draw and thus had one point more than the Chinese. In the end, neither of them could qualify.

player

Ranking of the Chinese World Cup players with the most appearances

1. Hao Haidong , Jiang Jin , Li Tie , Li Weifeng , Li Xiaopeng , Qu Bo , Wu Chengying , Xu Yunglong - 3 appearances in one tournament

World Cup captains

• 2002: Ma Mingyu (1st and 2nd game), Jiang Jin (3rd game)

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
2002 (3)	2 (1 in Germany, 1 in England)	Yang Chen (2); Sun Jihai (1)

Players banned from World Championships

• 2002: In the last group game, Shao Jiayi received the red card 12 minutes after his substitution when the score was 2-0 . Since China was eliminated, it had no further effect on the tournament.

Games

China has played three World Cup games so far, all of which have been lost. a. against the eventual world champions Brazil.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/04/2002	0: 2	Costa Rica	*	Gwangju ( KOR )	Preliminary round	First international match against Costa Rica
2	06/08/2002	0: 4	Brazil	*	Seogwipo ( KOR )	Preliminary round	First international match against Brazil
3	06/13/2002	0: 3	Turkey	*	Seoul ( KOR )	Preliminary round	First international match against Turkey

The Chinese team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Costa Rica : Preliminary round 2002 - 2-0 (also a 0-2 in a friendly)
•  Turkey : Preliminary round 2002 - 3-0 (only game against Turkey)

Negative records

• China is one of the five of the 79 World Cup finalists who have not yet scored a World Cup goal. All of them have only participated in a World Cup finals: the Netherlands Indies (1938), Zaire (1974), Canada (1986), China (2002) and Trinidad and Tobago (2006)

See also

• Football World - Statistics - China on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)