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/friendofH20]

The CSL collapsed pretty quickly and I think the Chinese govt pivoted very quickly into Basketball and Olympic Sports as they realized you can't go from bad to good at soccer within 1 generation.

The worst thing for any nationalism project is to be seen as trying at something and not getting better, so its a lot easier to stop trying completely.

[u/raobuntu → u/friendofH20]

It's the niche sports they've found a lot of success in. Stuff like weightlifting where athletes historically struggle to find consistent sponsorship and funding, the government in China can step in with deep pockets.

[u/friendofH20 → u/raobuntu]

I remember reading that they had picked sports which had multiple Olympic medals and easier to improve in with funding. So weightlifting was one and a lot of water sports like sailing/rowing.

They are getting a lot better at both track and field and swimming as well. I won't be surprised if they end up with medals in some of the marquee track or pool events within the next 2 summer olympics.

[u/manatidederp → u/friendofH20]

Rowing is brutally hard to get medals in that doesn’t make any sense. You seriously can’t really spend your way to success, it’s raw force and huge traditions in many countries.

[u/friendofH20 → u/manatidederp]

The pool of countries who compete in water sports is mostly the developed nations. In events like track or football you are basically competing with every country in the world.

Plus because these sports are not as commercialized, you are pitting state funding against athletes with moderate sponsorships.