by sportswriters Dong Yixing and Wang Hengzhi
BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) — As 2024 involves an in depth, Chinese soccer finds itself at a vital juncture, marked by each challenges and promising progress. Although some lingering points stay to be addressed, the game is step by step stabilizing and exhibiting a variety of constructive indicators because it continues to develop.
THE NATIONAL TEAMS
The males’s nationwide soccer group skilled a rollercoaster 12 months in 2024, concluding with three wins, 4 attracts, and 6 losses throughout 13 official matches beneath the management of two head coaches.
At the Asian Cup in January, China suffered an early exit from the group stage with two attracts and one loss, failing to attain a single purpose – the group’s worst efficiency in historical past which led to the dismissal of then-head coach Aleksandar Jankovic.
Branko Ivankovic was appointed as new head coach in late February, when China ranked third in Group C of the second spherical of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Under the Croatian, the group narrowly superior, aided by a greater head-to-head file in opposition to Thailand.
As the third spherical of the Asian qualifiers kicked off in September, the nationwide group endured three consecutive losses, together with a painful 7-0 defeat to Japan. Following further losses to Saudi Arabia and Australia, exterior doubts peaked, and Ivankovic confronted the specter of dismissal.
However, the group managed to show issues round, reaching two consecutive victories in opposition to Indonesia and Bahrain. Although they misplaced to Japan once more in Xiamen, the gamers’ offensive capabilities improved considerably within the World Cup qualifiers, with the group managing to attain in all matches aside from the opening recreation in opposition to Japan.
Additionally, there was a noticeable pattern in the direction of youth, with the typical age of the squad dropping from 29.2 throughout the Asian Cup to 26.7 throughout the match in opposition to Japan in Xiamen. This included rising abilities equivalent to Behram Abduweli, Xie Wenneng, and Hu Hetao.
Despite ending the 12 months ranked ninetieth within the FIFA rankings – 11 locations decrease than the earlier 12 months – the lads’s nationwide group slowly regained its confidence throughout this era of transformation, holding onto hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Meanwhile, the ladies’s nationwide group completed seventeenth on this planet and fourth in Asia. Australia’s Ante Milicic took cost of the group throughout a 12 months that lacked any official worldwide matches, providing each Milicic and the squad a precious alternative to regroup.
Under Milicic’s management, the group participated in 5 worldwide A-level matches. Their file of two wins, one draw, and two losses didn’t present a lot vital evaluation because of the various ranges of their opponents. As the Steel Roses sit up for 2025, they proceed to face a niche in worldwide competitors and can depend on coaching camps and A-level matches to refine and develop the squad.
THE PROFESSIONAL LEAGUES
The 2024 Chinese Super League (CSL) season concluded with Shanghai Port efficiently defending its title and setting a number of league information, whereas Meizhou Hakka and Nantong Zhiyun have been relegated on the ultimate matchday.
Throughout the season, Shanghai Port and metropolis rival Shanghai Shenhua maintained dominant positions on the high of the leaderboard, ending with 78 and 77 factors, respectively. Shanghai Port’s 78 factors surpassed the earlier 77-point file set by Guangzhou Evergrande in 2013.
Several different information have been shattered, together with these for objectives scored, purpose distinction and consecutive victories. Shanghai Port netted 96 objectives, surpassing the 91-goal achievement of Wuhan Three Towns in 2022. Their internet purpose distinction of 66 set a brand new benchmark, and so they achieved an astounding 16 consecutive wins.
Star ahead Wu Lei was a standout performer for Shanghai Port, scoring 34 objectives and considerably exceeding the earlier single-season file of 29 objectives with out changing any penalties. He additionally contributed 10 assists. Brazilian midfielder Oscar set a brand new file with 20 assists, surpassing his personal earlier file established in 2012.
According to Yang Xu, Vice President of the Chinese Football Association, throughout a December 13 press convention, the overall variety of spectators attending CSL matches all year long exceeded 4.66 million, with a median attendance approaching 20,000 per match. China League One attracted over 2.28 million stay spectators, together with a record-setting crowd of over 60,000 on the match between Dalian Yifang and Shanghai Jiading Huilong.
Additionally, the 2024 CSL season noticed vital enhancements in referee administration throughout the three-tier skilled leagues. Efforts have been targeted on making certain honest officiating, refining referee choice processes, establishing standardized penalties, and enhancing general officiating requirements. The Chinese Football Association additionally appointed feminine referees to officiate males’s skilled league matches.
Meanwhile, Wuhan Jianghan edged out Changchun Dazhong Women by only one level to retain the CFA Women’s Super League title, reaching their fifth consecutive championship.
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN
On November 26, 2022, former nationwide group head coach Li Tie was investigated, marking the onset of a major crackdown on corruption inside Chinese sports activities, significantly in soccer, which has confronted persistent points associated to match-fixing, bribery, and different unethical practices.
Since then, a number of high-profile figures in Chinese soccer gamers, coaches, and officers have been investigated, detained, or sanctioned for corruption-related offenses. More than 10 notable figures have been sentenced this 12 months alone, together with former CFA president Chen Xuyuan and former deputy director of China’s General Administration of Sport, Du Zhaocai, who additionally served because the occasion secretary of the Chinese Football Association.
On March 26 of this 12 months, a courtroom in Hubei Province sentenced Chen to life imprisonment for bribery, as he was discovered to have acquired 81.03 million yuan (11.1 million U.S. {dollars}) in illicit advantages.
On September 10, a particular investigation led by the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Public Security uncovered 120 matches suspected of match-fixing or playing, spanning varied skilled soccer leagues, together with the CSL, China League One, China League Two, the FA Cup, and the Women’s Super League, implicating 41 affiliated golf equipment. A complete of 43 former soccer personnel have been banned for all times from any football-related actions.
On December 13, Li was sentenced to twenty years in jail for a number of bribery offenses. On the identical day, Du acquired a 14-year jail sentence and a high quality of 4 million yuan (550,000 U.S. {dollars}).
Li, a former Everton midfielder, formally grew to become the pinnacle coach of China’s males’s nationwide group in January 2020 and led China by way of the Asian qualifying rounds for the 2022 World Cup earlier than resigning in December 2021.