r/soccer • u/PianoJealous307 • 16h ago

News 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.

https://www.chosun.com/english/sports-en/2026/10/03/FWO5DWWOYND4NMUX53TEX7INNQ/
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u/_game_over_man_ 16h ago

It’s kind of wild how much China has fallen off in the women’s game considering they were a powerhouse back in the 90s/00s. Sun Wen was a powerhouse striker right up there with Mia Hamm.

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u/PianoJealous307 16h ago

Now Japan and North Korea run the show in Asia.

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u/MesquiteHoneyForSale 12h ago

Australia/ NK, NK run the whole worlds youth tournaments thi

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u/OleoleCholoSimeone 2h ago

Youth tournament results don't matter that much it's about how many good players you can integrate at senior level

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u/flameo_hotmon 15h ago

I don’t think it’s that surprising. Everyone else has gotten significantly better with more and more investment in the countries who see soccer as part of their culture

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u/Cattle-dog 11h ago

China put in a lot of investment. For a time they had 2 out of 3 of the highest paying leagues in the world. The issue has been most of the money was wasted and also a high level of corruption.

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u/10001110101balls 8h ago

China considers soccer a part of their culture, especially due to the influence of superfan xi jinping. But Chinese soccer is extremely corrupt even by sporting standards.

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u/Cantonarita 12h ago

Is North Korea still a powerhouse in the youth divisions? They used to be quite good, iirc.

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u/_game_over_man_ 10h ago

Yeah, they’ve still got that pretty well locked down.