Raising the nation's game

Slumping squads

The underachieving men's soccer and basketball national programs have at times overshadowed the huge strides made by Chinese athletes elsewhere, much to the chagrin of fans.

After missing out on qualification for the FIFA World Cup for the fifth time in a row at Qatar 2022, the Chinese men's soccer team sank to a new low when it crashed out of the Asian Cup in January with a scoreless, worst-ever 18th-place finish at the continental event.

The humiliating campaign was a further blow to the nation's soccer revival project, which continues to struggle on all fronts. Poor results on the pitch have been mirrored by corruption off it, with several former Chinese Football Association officials now paying for their crimes behind bars.

The rampant abuse of power, match-fixing and bribery, revealed by China's central anti-graft authority and involving former CFA president Chen Xuyuan, the association's former Party chief Du Zhaocai and former national team coach Li Tie, should be blamed for the sport's stagnant development and poor management, said Gao.

"Systematic corruption has wreaked havoc with the soccer sector, while the international performances of our 'big-ball' squads have been on a continual decline over the past few years, failing to meet the expectations of the central government and ordinary fans," he added.

To further deter and tackle disciplinary violations, Liu Guoyong, a deputy director of the GASC, suggested during the 14th NPC's annual meeting last week that match-fixing, including manipulation of results, scores and statistics, should be criminalized with amendments to laws.

"We've had criminal laws targeting bribery and gambling in sports, yet we lack strong legal action against match-fixing specifically, resulting in manipulation of results not just in soccer and basketball, but also in billiards, table tennis, badminton and even esports," said Liu, also a deputy to the top legislature.

"Stronger protection is needed to defend clean sports and the integrity of fair players."

China's men's basketball team, once the pride of the nation after reaching the Olympic quarterfinals twice, is also in the doldrums. A disappointing campaign at the 2023 FIBA World Cup saw the squad fail to qualify for this summer's Paris Olympics, having also missed out on the Tokyo Games.

Two straight losses to the Philippines, first at the World Cup last August and two months later in the semifinals of the home Asiad, were followed by a first defeat to Japan in 88 years in an Asian Cup qualifier last month, leaving fans furious.

Former NBA All-Star and national team icon Yao Ming, who is now president of the Chinese Basketball Association, is under huge pressure, with the declining competitiveness of the domestic league and stagnant domestic talent development under the spotlight.

"Reforms on all fronts are needed and we are planning to improve the quality of the national team's training programs as well as the CBA league's operations," Yao, also a deputy to the 14th NPC, told China Central Television last week.

"At the grassroots level, we are not short of kids loving and playing the game. We need to restructure our competitions and coaching systems to better identify and develop young talent," said Yao, who led Team China to a best-ever eighth-place finish at Beijing 2008.