Latest news with #ChineseFootball
South China Morning Post
09-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Have Chinese youth football team signed Barcelona teen superstar Lamine Yamal?
Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal was congratulated on Chinese social media on Tuesday after his 'transfer' to Shanghai high school team Dalian No 8. The 17-year-old shared a series of images on social media of his journey to China. And when he arrived at the airport, he was wearing a Dalian No 8 High School football shirt – an image reminiscent of a player landing at the destination of their new club. There were also videos on Chinese social media of Yamal showing off his Mandarin skills. So what's the deal? Has a contender for the Ballon d'Or stepped back from senior football for now, and gone back to playing with and against people his own age? Sadly for crisis-ridden Chinese football, that is not the case.
South China Morning Post
28-06-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Ivankovic out. Chinese football bosses finally confirm sacking after World Cup failure
The Chinese Football Association has finally confirmed what everyone already knew, that head coach Branko Ivankovic had been fired after his side's failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Advertisement In a statement released on its website, the CFA thanked Ivankovic and said Dejan Djurdjevic, who led China to the quarter-finals of the Under-20 Asian Cup in Shenzhen in February, would take over on a caretaker basis for next month's East Asian Championship in South Korea, which also includes Hong Kong and Japan. Ivankovic was removed from his post as a result of China finishing fifth in Group C of the continent's preliminaries for next year's 48-team finals, which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States. 'The Chinese Football Association expresses gratitude to Mr Branko Ivankovic and his coaching staff for their dedicated efforts during their tenure with the men's national team and their contributions to Chinese football,' a CFA statement said. 'We wish Mr. Ivankovic all the best in his future work and life.' Losing to Indonesia in Jakarta was the end of China's World Cup dreams for another year. Photo: Xinhua The 71-year-old Croatian, who led Iran at the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, was appointed China's coach in February 2024, replacing Aleksandar Jankovic. He steered the country into the third phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying.
South China Morning Post
11-06-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Top China football boss says men's national team is ‘fourth rate and we never learn'
A top Chinese football boss has launched a scathing attack on the state of the game in the country, calling the national team a 'fourth-rate' side. Song Kai's damning verdict came after the men's side lost 7-0 to Japan last September, but was only revealed by state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday, in the first episode of the series Dialogue with Chinese Football, titled Disparity. The Chinese Football Association president made the comments when meeting with youth team coaches following the thrashing by their bitter rivals, but the documentary was aired the day after China beat Bahrain 1-0 in the final game of their ill-fated World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday. 'We really haven't done well at the national team level,' Song said. 'In the past, we were considered one of the best in Asia, but now we are only third- or fourth-rate, and we can't even compare with Australia and Japan. 'Is this football? This is not football. In the past 20 years, Japanese football has focused on elite youth training. Chinese football doesn't use the right methods, we don't work hard, we are not humble, and we don't learn.' China's Wang Yudong waves a flag in front of fans after the team's win against Bahrain. Photo: AFP In the match in Chongqing, 18-year-old forward Wang Yudong scored a 93rd minute penalty to give his side only their third win in the third round of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Malay Mail
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
China's World Cup dream dies again as fans savage coach, players after 1-0 defeat in Jakarta
SHANGHAI, June 7 — Fed-up Chinese football fans and pundits expressed dismay Friday after the country's World Cup dreams were torpedoed following a crushing qualifying defeat in Indonesia. President Xi Jinping has said he wanted China to win the World Cup one day but the latest flop means they have only ever played there once, in 2002, when they failed to get a point or score a goal. The 1-0 defeat in Jakarta on Thursday left them rooted to the foot of Asian qualifying Group C with seven losses in nine games. They have conceded 20 goals. Football commentator Zhan Jun said Branko Ivankovic's men lost 'due to lack of experience, lack of ability and poor handling of details'. The Croatian coach's tactics were 'not suitable for the team' and put too much pressure on defensive midfielder Wang Shangyuan, Zhan wrote on the Weibo social media site. Veteran pundit Ji Yuyang complained that Ivankovic's leadership had let the team down and that the coach was 'not as good as several of his predecessors'. 'In their group the Chinese team lost the most games and conceded the most goals,' Ji noted on Weibo. China's long-suffering fans vented online. One said that 'these national players simply don't realise that the point of football is to kick the ball into the opponents' goal'. 'They only know how to stupidly chase the ball!' The national team has long been the butt of jokes and a target of derision in China both for its poor record and corruption in the sport. 'The last time the national team made it to the World Cup, I was in year six of primary school,' wrote another online. 'We might be able to make it by the time my grandchildren are in sixth grade.' Chinese people 'have long been emotionally prepared to be eliminated (from the World Cup),' one supporter said on Weibo. 'No matter how crappy you are, we will not give up our World Cup dream!' The national team play again on Tuesday in the southwestern city of Chongqing in what is now a deadrubber against similarly eliminated Bahrain. — AFP
