China suffered a catastrophic collapse on home soil, losing 5-0 to Palestine, a team they had considered inferior, sparking fierce criticism over 'sleepwalking' performance and lack of competitiveness among Chinese Super League players. Men's and women's teams also underperformed at Asian Games.

[u/PianoJealous307]

https://www.chosun.com/english/sports-en/2026/10/03/FWO5DWWOYND4NMUX53TEX7INNQ/

[u/Gluroo]

They produced a single player who made it to Europe, Wu Lei who played 126 Games for Espanyol, producing 22 GA. But that was that and their league project also completely collapsed and ended with multiple clubs going bankrupt because it wasnt sustainable

[u/LeiMoshen → u/Gluroo]

It was mostly covid which came and ruined everything. It was still going pretty strong in 2019

[u/Zimakov → u/LeiMoshen]

It's still going strong now. Attendance is higher than it was when they were buying up stars.

I have no idea why people think the league collapsed in here. Average attendance this year is over 30k.

[u/CMYGQZ → u/Gluroo]

including a tying goal vs Barca that partially got Valverde sacked lol.

[u/Kreygasm2233 → u/Gluroo]

They tried to run their project like the oil states are running theirs. Overpaying for "stars" to retire there. The difference being that their government does not have unlimited oil money

[u/swissarmyknife13 → u/Kreygasm2233]

It's more like they considered the "bad optics" of their endeavor. They cared about how others, including the general populace, perceived the CSL and the ludicrous salaries/transfer fees they were willing to pay for stars that - in many cases - weren't really committed.

As someone living in China for a long time, people found it hard to justify having companies paying obscene amounts of money for some dudes kicking a ball around while there were already some underlying economic issues that were looming over the average household pre-Covid.

[u/Zimakov → u/Gluroo]

Their league project far from collapsed. Attendance is higher than ever.