Chinese sports fans have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of the president of China’s football association after the national side crashed to a shock defeat to Syria in a major blow to president Xi Jinping’s football revolution.



Xi, who Communist party propagandists promote as a dedicated football fan, has vowed to turn China into a footballing superpower.

Thousands of football academies are being built across the country in a bid to nurture a new generation of world-beating players. Massive pay packets are being used to lure foreign coaches and players from footballing nations such as Brazil in order to beautify the still dismal Chinese game.

But Xi’s ambitious plans to qualify for, host and eventually win a World Cup were dented on Thursday night when China lost 1-0 to Syria.

Forty-thousand fans had packed the Zhuque Stadium in the northern city of Xi’an to see China, ranked 78th in the world by Fifa, take on Syria, a footballing minnow ranked 114th, just ahead of Turkmenistan, Lithuania, Palestine and North Korea.

The Global Times, a Communist party-run tabloid, said China’s players dominated possession. But in the second half Team China was “stunned” by a goal from Mahmoud Al-Mawas, meaning China’s chances of qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia were now “slim”.

Xinhua, Beijing’s official news agency, admitted that the result left China on “the edge of elimination” from the qualifying campaign.

“Seriously, the performance of China’s national team was that of an amateur side,” Dong Lu, a television sports commentator, wrote on Weibo, China’s Twitter.

The Tencent Sports website said large groups of disgruntled fans gathered outside the stadium following the game to demand that the president of the Chinese Football Association, Cai Zhenhua, be axed.

“Cai Zhenhua, resign!” they chanted, according to video of the demonstration.

Fans also used social media to voice their disgust.

Mahmoud Almawas of Syria (left) celebrates after scoring the winning goal against China. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

“Last night Syria, a country which has been suffering wars for many years, whose manager earns just 2,000 yuan (£240) each month, defeated China whose players earn millions of yuan. It is time for China’s national football team to have a good think,” one critic wrote on Weibo.

“China’s national team couldn’t even beat the Syrian football team which is suffering from a situation of extreme instability,” another commented. “There is no longer any need for China’s national team to exist. It is a waste of taxpayer’s money.”

A third critic wrote: “What China’s National Football Team gives its fans is decades of consistent disappointment.”



Some disillusioned fans called for Team China’s manager, Gao Hongbo, to be sacked and replaced with Lang Ping, the revered coach of China’s female volleyball team.

Lang cemented her position as a national treasure when she led her team to gold at this summer’s Rio Olympics.



Following Thursday’s defeat, senior members of China’s sports establishment conceded such glories remained out of reach for the country’s footballers.

Yu Hongchen, the vice dean of China’s football management centre, said Team China players had been left “heartbroken” by the defeat to Syria.



“Our football players played hard,” Yu said, according to the Sina Sports website. “But the result is unacceptable.”

Additional reporting by Christy Yao

