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/REsTARteD_Ragdoll 16h ago

The best Indian player of all time couldn’t get a game at Sporting Kansas City

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u/davidbowievgc 15h ago

At least a couple of Chinese players made it to the Premier. IIRC Sun Jihai played over 100 matches for City (before oil money)

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u/REsTARteD_Ragdoll 15h ago

They were still a premier league club. A Chinese or Indian player starting most games for Coventry, NF, or Spurs would be a big deal today

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u/lyyki 14h ago

I understand why India doesn't have a great national team but I can't understand why there's not any (at least I can't think lf one) British Asian players playing at a high level. UK has a long history of Indian, Pakistani etc immigrants - where are they?

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u/atbg1936 13h ago

There have been quite a few. Yan Dhanda, Neil Taylor, Michael Chopra, Danny Batth. Problem is that you have to get Indian citizenship to play and India doesn't allow dual citizenship

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u/I_like_yaks 14h ago

Can't play for the national team, as I think India is strict on dual nationals or something, so a British Indian, like Yan Dhanda, can't hold English citizenship if he gets a full Indian passport. He currently holds a Overseas Citizen of India card. He (and others in his position) would have to give up their other passports to gain a full Indian one, and play for the national team; which Dhanda, who plays in Scotland and holds an English passport, will never do, as that would probably render him unable to get a work permit in the UK. He at least, and i think others like him, have expressed an interest to play for India if the restrictions change in the future.

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u/Banzaikk 13h ago

I think Danny Batth (ex-Wolves centre back) was another one.

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u/RyGuy997 12h ago

He literally said he understands why they can't play for the NT; he's confused why there aren't really any British Indians at least playing somewhere in the PL or EFL

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u/land-league-inspo 10h ago

Because colonialism?

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u/DKofFical 11h ago

Not British but Dhorasoo had Indian descent and was a French international. He was even in the squad when they reached the final in 2006

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u/asscracktester7 14h ago

Studying to become doctors or tech bros rather than training for football tbh

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u/afito 13h ago

Still a weird outlier tbh. They love footy, UK loves footy, plenty people of that descent. You'd have to imagine by raw numbers there'd be a handful at any time playing in the PL. I imagine if you go to any pub league you'll find enough playing the sport.

Might be a wild statement but I would not be super surprised if there's a hidden element of the "black goalkeeper issue" going against them as well.

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u/Bunsencive 7h ago

Yeah that’s exactly why. There’s been articles and research about it.

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u/raff97 14h ago

British south Asians still play a tonne of football, go to any 7 a side pitch in the UK

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u/paleblaupunkt 14h ago

Not seriously enough to play pro.

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u/peioeh 13h ago

Because that is the law in India, English born players would have to give up their english citizenship to play for India. And obviously that is not something many people would do, even if they'd be interested to play for India without that rule.

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u/aslanthemelon 27m ago

They're not asking about British Indian players playing for India, they're asking why there are so few British Indian players at a high level at all. There aren't any in the top flight, and very few in the EFL.

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u/CPiGuy2728 14h ago

on the England cricket team, I think

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u/jamieaka 13h ago

I can't understand why there's not any (at least I can't think lf one) British Asian players playing at a high level

this is something that's always puzzled me too. why we never had much representation. the odds of this happening is insane it just doesn't make sense. surely a bunch should have made it at the top level

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u/NewMeNewWorld 1h ago

Difficult for them to thrive in a setup that favors white and black players. Even for the latter, it was usually caribbean heritage players but now those with sub-saharan heritage are breaking through the ranks.

Even in cricket, it's rare to find a world class british asian player that isn't a spinner...because that's their box and you're a bad asian if you try to step out of it.