Chinese Football Association

The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland 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. 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.

History

Founded in 1924, the Chinese Football Association became members of FIFA in 1931 and competed internationally at the 1936 and 1948 Olympics. Following the end of Chinese Civil War in 1949, both the People's Republic of China (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 and to readmit the Chinese Football Association was passed on 7 July 1980.

In 2015, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping set an aggressive plan to make the Chinese men's national team the number one footballing nation in Asia by 2030 and the world's number one by 2050.

In 2022, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials launched an anti-corruption probe resulting in eight footballing officials being investigated for "suspected of violations of discipline and law". In August 2024, former CCP Committee Secretary of the CFA, Du Zhaocai, pleaded guilty to accepting more than US$6.1 million in bribes. On 10 September 2024, CFA banned 38 players, including former nationals, Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, and five officials for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption. Other players and officials were also given shorter five years bans.

National teams

Men's national team

The China national football team ( represents the People's Republic of China in international association football. 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 and 2004, and made its sole FIFA World Cup appearance in 2002, losing all matches without scoring a goal.

Women's national team

The China women's national football team (), represents the People's Republic of China in international association football. 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.

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

Men

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Level

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League(s) / Division(s)

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Chinese Super League

16 clubs

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| colspan="9" style="width:96%;"| ↓ 2 clubs ↑ 2 clubs

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China League One

16 clubs

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| colspan="9" style="width:96%;"| ↓ 2 clubs ↑ 2 clubs

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China League Two

20 clubs

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| colspan="9" style="width:96%;"| ↓ 4 clubs ↑ 4 clubs

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Chinese Football Association Member Association Champions League

56 clubs

Women

Chinese Women's Super League since 1997.

Member associations

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

Anhui Football Association
Beijing Football Association
Changchun Football Association
Chengdu Football Association
Chongqing Football Association
Dalian Football Association
Fujian Football Association
Gansu Football Association
Guangdong Football Association
Guangxi Football Association
Guangzhou Football Association
Guizhou Football Association
Hainan Football Association
Hebei Football Association
Heilongjiang Football Association
Henan Football Association
Hubei Football Association
Hunan Football Association
Inner Mongolia Football Association
Jiangsu Football Association
Jiangxi Football Association
Jilin Football Association

Kunming Football Association
Liaoning Football Association
Nanjing Football Association
Ningxia Football Association
Qingdao Football Association
Qinghai Football Association
Shaanxi Football Association
Shandong Football Association
Shanghai Football Association
Shanxi Football Association
Shenyang Football Association
Shenzhen Football Association
Sichuan Football Association
Tianjin Football Association
Tibet Football Association
Wuhan Football Association
Xiamen Football Association
Xi'an Football Association
Xinjiang Football Association
Yanbian Football Association
Yunnan Football Association
Zhejiang Football Association

Leadership

Current

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!Name

!Position

!Source

|Committee Secretary of the Communist Party

| Song Kai

|Deputy Party Secretary and President

| Sun Wen

|Vice President