Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football

Jun 11, 2025

Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football
XinhuaYonhap News



Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football
ReutersYonhap News
Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football
ReutersYonhap News
The president of the Chinese Football Association has finally realized the reality of the Chinese national soccer team. However, the illusion of the past has not completely escaped yet.

China's Sohu reported on the 11th (Korea time) 'Song Kai, president of the Chinese Football Association, commented on the current situation in Chinese football'

China ended the World Cup qualifying round with a 1-0 victory over Bahrain in the 10th Group C match of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup at Longxing Football Stadium in Chongqing on the 10th.




Despite winning the final match, China failed to advance to the World Cup finals. With this elimination, hopes for the sixth consecutive World Cup finals have completely disappeared. The fourth-place leap, which can be hoped for a fourth-round World Cup qualifying round, has already been eliminated by the defeat against Indonesia. This is the first World Cup in North Korea, China, and the U.S. to increase the number of countries that advance to the finals from 32 to 48. However, China has failed to overcome even the Asian stage despite the increased number of tickets to the World Cup, continuing its humiliating history of failing to advance to the World Cup finals for six consecutive times since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.

Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football
ReutersYonhap News
Song Kai, president of the Chinese Football Association, also acknowledged the disastrous reality of Chinese soccer. Sohu said 'Chinese Football Association President Song Kai talked about the current situation in Chinese football at a youth training symposium.

Songkai said, `The poor performance of the national team is due to poor leadership. The goal of the game was not achieved, and the players were not properly nurtured"In the past, China was regarded as the best technical team in Asia. But now it has fallen into third- or fourth-rate football in Asia. There is no comparison between Australia and Japan," he said, claiming that Chinese soccer had crashed. However, it is unclear whether Chairman Song Kai really grasped Chinese soccer properly because the level of Chinese soccer was closer to failing to develop than falling.




Chinese soccer was the best in Asia. When?The president of the Korea Football Association, who lost six World Cups and became aware of reality, is now a third- or fourth-rate football
ReutersYonhap News
Songkai also said "This is not football. Japanese soccer has fostered elite prospects rather than popularization. Popularization takes a long time. Elite development has an immediate effect. We need to analyze these problems," he said, leaving a comment that did not properly grasp Japanese soccer based on daily sports.

Even if Chinese soccer becomes aware of the reality right away, it is unclear whether it will be able to improve immediately. The highly anticipated national team still has not produced clear results. Despite Chairman Song Kai's remarks, it is difficult to guarantee when China will be able to pin hope on the national soccer team again.






This article was translated by Naver AI translator.