Study hard or be sent to Chinese soccer team; how China fails hard in soccer

China, the world's second largest economy with a population of 1.4 billion, cannot put up a soccer team qualified for the World Cup. China's absence in the World Cup this year marks its fifth time failing to join the team. In fact, China only appeared once in the World Cup in 2002 without scoring any goals. Even the domestic league situation doesn't look any better. Last year, six soccer teams were dismissed due to financial difficulties, including the 2021 campaign. Jiangsu FC 2020 was even worse. Sixteen professional teams were disqualified from the league due to the same reason. Five others voluntarily disbanded. This year, China's absence at the World Cup brings up the problem. Chinese soccer has been lagging far behind for decades. According to an opinion article on Bloomberg, bribery, match fixing, illegal gambling, and other corruption has plagued the sport since the 1990s. China's anti-graft watchdog has hunted down many corrupted officials, players, and referees. Just as the World Cup is taking place in Qatar, the department investigated former National Men's Soccer coach Li Tai. The probe has sparked a heated discussion among Chinese netizens. The South China Morning Post reported that some users called on the government to investigate the whole national team. The National Soccer League has been filled with scandals. Li Tai is just one of the dozens of people the corruption campaign has purged since 2010. Many ended up in a prison. For example, in 2010, former Chinese Football Association CFA Vice Chairman Nan Yang was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. The court accused him of taking 1.19 million yuan in bribes between 1990 and 2009. Rowan Simmons, author of Bamboo Goalposts, told CNN in 2010 that corruption in Chinese football was so bad that even players had to pay to join the games. He said there was even a rate card published in the press. 10,000 pounds gets you selected for the national squad. To get a run out as a sub is 20,000 pounds. Players have to come out and say that they can't play for the national team because they can't afford it. On top of that, the Chinese people have never taken pride in the national soccer team's performance. Earlier this year, in the eighth round of qualifiers for the Asian region of the World Cup, the team lost 1-3 to the Vietnam team. Shortly after the loss, Chinese media Phoenix posted an article titled, National Football Team Defeated by Vietnam 1-3, officially missed the World Cup on the first day of the Lunar New Year, adding to the frustration of fans. The article attracted hundreds of comments from Chinese netizens who showed their frustration but in a sarcastic tone. The Chinese national team has never lived up to the fans' expectations. While at home, the domestic soccer league is scandalous due to corruption, abroad, the team's performance is a humiliation to the Chinese people. In 2016, when China lost to Syria in a match, at the time, China ranked 78th in the world while Syria was 114th. The Chinese people cannot tame their anger and disappointment. Many fans gathered in front of the stadium after the game and chanted, 而一名女记者则在现场进行报道,在拍摄中,女记者在说到球迷不离不弃, 等待国足出来时,一名球迷则岂不可耐进行发言,并大声喊了一句,退钱。 听到这句话的女记者瞬间觉得有些尴尬,可还不等记者说话, 这名球迷又大声说道,对得起我们吗?对得起我们吗?退钱。 从球迷脸上愤怒不难看出,他们对国足已经是彻底失望了。 Despite all of that, nothing seems to matter to top Chinese players. Earlier this year, a short clip circulated on the internet showing their lavish lifestyle. Until now, the whole situation between the Chinese fans and the national football team could be summed up in this video. Chinese football corruption seems to be a systemic problem. Cameron Wilson, a British journalist, pointed out the root cause of the state's top-down bureaucratic system. He told ABC News on November 7th, In short, Chinese football is simply not about football. It's about politics, business, and self-interest. These things, of course, are far from absent elsewhere. But in China, they are all dominating because of the ecosystem. It's not designed for passion and love for anything not related to the bottom line. Wilson's outlook on Chinese football is bleak because there will not be any fundamental changes. Why? He said that those who run the country football are politicians. Not only do these politicians not understand the spirit of football, but even how the state controls football is not aligned with FIFA rules. It can be said the exceptional corruption of Chinese soccer owes to the lead of the Chinese Communist Party. Really, where on earth is a football club led by the so-called General Administration of Sport? Is there anything that isn't corrupt under the reign of the Chinese regime?