The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams and administers the country's professional leagues as well as organizing the national knockout cup competition

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh tit ...

. As members of East Asian Football Federation its national teams are eligible for the East Asian Football Championship and the country's membership in AFC allows teams to participate in that organizations club and national team competitions. China is also a member of FIFA and is therefore eligible to play in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

History

Founded in 1924, the Chinese Football Association became members of FIFA in 1931 and competed internationally at the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and 1948 Olympic games. Following the end of

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

in 1949, both the

(PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) contended to be the sole legitimate government of "China", and claimed sovereignty over both mainland China and Taiwan. On 14 June 1952, FIFA acknowledged that the CFA on Mainland China, not the Republic of China Football Association (ROCFA) located on Taiwan, was the recognized authority over Chinese Football with their membership dating to 1931. Taiwan was admitted as a member of FIFA in June 1954 over the objections of the CFA and the PRC government at the 29th FIFA Congress in Bern. The Chinese Football Association's objection to Taiwan's membership in FIFA continued with the organization offering proposals for the island's expulsion at the next two FIFA Congresses in 1956 and 1958. Then on 8 July 1958 the CFA notified FIFA of its withdraw as a member of the federation. FIFA stipulations at the time required that once a withdraw be announced it must be confirmed three months later by registered mail. With no such confirmation received, FIFA's Executive Committee still considered ACAF a member but all inquiries to the CFA or PRC were returned stating China no longer recognized FIFA's authority. At a meeting of FIFA's Executive Committee in late October 1959, Victor Granatkin, the USSR Vice President of FIFA, reported that from his discussions with Chinese authorities, the CFA would only rescind its withdraw after the expulsion of Taiwan from the organization. The situation was resolved at FIFA's 42nd Congress when the Executive Committee's compromise proposal to allow Taiwan to remain a member of FIFA under the name

Chinese Taipei Football Association Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) is the governing body for football in the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Its official name in Chinese is the Republic of China Football Association, but due to the political status of Taiw ...

and to readmit the Chinese Football Association was passed on 7 July 1980. In 1992 the CFA under the auspices of the

General Administration of Sport of China The General Administration of Sport () is the government agency responsible for sports in mainland China. It is subordinate to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It also administers the All-China Sports Federation and Chinese Oly ...

released plan to improve the quality of football in the nation. The plan included hiring

Klaus Schlappner Klaus Schlappner (born 22 May 1940) is a football manager. He is predominantly remembered for his first spell with SV Waldhof Mannheim, when he led them to the 2. Bundesliga title and several seasons in the Bundesliga as well as being the firs ...

to coach the national team and as a technical adviser for the football federation and had the stated goals of attempting to enter the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, to be among the top five teams in the 1995 Women's World Cup, qualify for the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, represent Asia in the 1998 World Cup, to reach the quarter-finals of the 2000 Olympic Games, and to be among the top four teams in the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. Then in 1998, the then-Minister of Sports announced a ten-year plan for Chinese football with goals to reach the World Cup finals and become one of the top sixteen teams in the world by 2002.

National teams

Men's national team

The China national football team ( represents the

in international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Since rejoining the international football community, the team achieved their highest FIFA ranking of 37 in December 1998. The men's national team has won the EAFF East Asian Cup in 2005 and 2010, was runner-up at the AFC Asian Cup in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and 2004, and made its sole

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

appearance in 2002, losing all matches without scoring a goal.

Women's national team

The China women's national football team (), represents the

in international

. The team is colloquially referred to as "''Zhōngguó Nǚzú''" (, and has been nicknamed the "''Steel Roses''" (). The team achieved their highest FIFA ranking of 4 in 2003. The women's team has won AFC Women's Asian Cup a record 8 times in 1986,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 1997, 1999, and 2006 and were runners-up a two times in 2003, 2008. They were also runners up at the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

Professional leagues

Professional football in China is organized by the CFA and currently consists of four professional leagues organized in a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between the leagues. The Chinese Football Association Super League is the top flight of professional football in China after a rebranding of the National Football Jia A League in 2004. Also founded in 2004, the Chinese Football Association China League is the second tier of professional football. The Chinese Football Association Division Two League, founded in 1956 as the second level, the league was demoted to the third level in 1989. The

Chinese Football Association Member Association Champions League The Chinese Football Association Member Association Champions League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会会员协会冠军联赛), or CMCL, former known as Chinese Football Association Bing League (中国足球协会丙级联赛) (before 2006 ...

makes up the fourth level of football with relegated teams playing to league run by the regional CFA member football association.

League system

Member associations

As of 2015, there are total 44 member associations directly affiliated to CFA. The members are: * Anhui Football Association *

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Football Association * Changchun Football Association *

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

Football Association * Chongqing Football Association * Dalian Football Association *

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

Football Association * Gansu Football Association *

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Football Association * Guangxi Football Association *

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Football Association * Guizhou Football Association *

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Football Association *

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

Football Association *

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

Football Association *

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

Football Association *

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

Football Association *

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

Football Association *

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

Football Association *

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

Football Association *

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Football Association *

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea ( Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

Football Association * Kunming Football Association * Liaoning Football Association *

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Football Association *

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...

Football Association * Qingdao Football Association *

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

Football Association *

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

Football Association * Shandong Football Association *

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

Football Association * Shanxi Football Association * Shenyang Football Association * Shenzhen Football Association *

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Football Association * Tianjin Football Association *

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

Football Association *

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

Football Association * Xiamen Football Association *

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

Football Association *

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

Football Association *

Yanbian Yanbian (; Chosŏn'gŭl: , ''Yeonbyeon''), officially known as the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang Province, on the west by ...

Football Association *

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

Football Association *

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

Football Association

Leadership

Current

List of Past Presidents and Vice Presidents

; President * Huang Zhong (黄中) (1955–1979) *

Li Fenglou Li Fenglou (Chinese: 李凤楼; June 15, 1912 – July 31, 1988) was a Chinese footballer and coach. As a player, he represented Zixing Football Team and North China, however he is predominantly remembered for being the People's Republic of China ...

(1979–1985) * Yuan Weimin (1985–1989) * Nian Weisi (1989–1992) * Yuan Weimin (1992–2014) *

Cai Zhenhua Cai Zhenhua (; ; born 3 September 1961 in Wuxi, Jiangsu) is a male former table tennis player from China. He is the vice Chairman and the Secretary of the Secretariat of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the former deputy Director ...

(2014–2019) *

Chen Xuyuan Chen Xuyuan (陈戌源, born 1956) is the president of Chinese Football Association assumed office in August 2019. He was president of Shanghai International Port Group before being elected to served as CFA president. Election He was elected in ...

(2019–present) ; First Vice-President * Sun Baorong (孙宝荣) (1989–1992) * Wang Junsheng (王俊生) (1992–2000) * Yan Shiduo (阎世铎) (2000–2004) * Xie Yalong (谢亚龙) (2005–2008) * Nan Yong (南勇) (2009) * Wei Di (韦迪) (2010–2013) * Zhang Jian (张剑) (2013–2019) * Du Zhaocai (杜兆才) (2019–present)

References

External links

*
FIFA profile: China PR
at AFC site

at EAFF site {{Sports governing bodies in China Chinese Football Association Members of the All-China Sports Federation China Football Sports organizations established in 1924 1924 establishments in China