The China national football team was founded in 1924 and joined FIFA in 1931–1958, and then from 1979. China first entered World Cup qualification in 1957 in an attempt to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. China failed to score a goal in their maiden World Cup appearance in 2002. However, qualifying for the tournament has been considered the greatest accomplishment in China's football history. As football is widely followed in China, triumph by the national team is considered to be a source of national pride. Around 300 million people tuned into broadcasts of China's World Cup 2002 matches, with 170 million new television sets being purchased by citizens in order to watch their nation's first World Cup appearance.[1] The team is colloquially referred to as Team China (中国队), the National Team (国家队) or Guozu (国足, lit. "national foot" also meaning national football).
Records
| Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | F | A | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | ||
 1930
|
Not a FIFA member | Not a FIFA member | ||||||||||||||
| 1934 to 1954 | Did not enter | Declined participation | ||||||||||||||
 1958
|
Did not qualify | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||
| 1962 to 1978 | Did not enter | Declined participation | ||||||||||||||
 1982
|
Did not qualify | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 8 | |||||||||
 1986
|
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 2 | ||||||||||
 1990
|
11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 9 | ||||||||||
 1994
|
8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 4 | ||||||||||
 1998
|
14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 16 | ||||||||||
  2002
|
Group stage | 31st | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 5 | ||
 2006
|
Did not qualify | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 1 | |||||||||
 2010
|
8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 4 | ||||||||||
 2014
|
8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 9 | ||||||||||
 2018
|
18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 35 | 11 | ||||||||||
 2022
|
18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 39 | 22 | ||||||||||
 2026
|
To be determined | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 16 | |||||||||
  2030
|
To be determined | |||||||||||||||
 2034
| ||||||||||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 1/21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 134 | 75 | 22 | 35 | 278 | 111 | ||
Record by opponent
| FIFA World Cup matches (by team) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Wins | Draws | Losses | Total | Goals Scored | Goals Conceded |
| Brazil |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
 Costa Rica |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 Turkey |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
China at South Korea/Japan 2002
Group C
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil
|
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 |
| Turkey
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 |
| Costa Rica
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 4 |
 China
|
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0 |
| China | 0 – 2 | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) | Gómez  61'Wright 65' |
| Brazil | 4 – 0 | China |
|---|---|---|
| Roberto Carlos 15' Rivaldo 32'Ronaldinho 45' (pen.)Ronaldo 55' |
(Report) |
Record players
Eight players were fielded in all three of China's World Cup matches in 2002.
| No. | Name | Matches |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hao Haidong | 3 |
| Jiang Jin | 3 | |
| Li Tie | 3 | |
| Li Weifeng | 3 | |
| Li Xiaopeng | 3 | |
| Qu Bo | 3 | |
| Wu Chengying | 3 | |
| Xu Yunlong | 3 |
References
- ^ FootballAsia.com, Asian Cup final smashes viewing records Archived 2008-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, 12 August 2004.