Aiming for higher goals

With the men's team struggling in its World Cup qualifying effort, and the domestic league losing its appeal, Chinese soccer signed off an eventful year craving a healthier future, away from the ill repute of numerous corruption scandals.

As sports fans relish China's athletic achievements after a remarkable Olympic year, the country's mediocre soccer program would hardly place high up on any honor rolls, with a series of setbacks and incidents, such as the men's squad's worst-ever Asian Cup outing and jail sentences for several former coaches and officials for corruption, all of which took a heavy toll on the sport's profile.

The men's squad's remaining hope for making it to the 2026 World Cup Finals, though, has offered fans at least something to look forward to, despite the fact that it faces massive task to survive a tough group and qualify for the marquee FIFA tournament for only the second time since its solo appearance in 2002.

Led by Croatian head coach Branko Ivankovic, Team China finished its 2024 campaign at the bottom of its six-team group in the current third-stage qualifying tournament, following three wins, two draws and five losses over 10 previous qualifiers. Yet, Ivankovic's plucky side remains alive, tied with three other group contenders on points, but just shy on goal difference.

The six critical points earned by its two wins so far in the current stage, against Bahrain and Indonesia respectively, kept Team China in the running after it opened the third round with a humiliating 7-0 rout at the hands of group leader Japan in September, followed by two straight defeats to fourth-ranked Saudi Arabia and 2nd-placed Australia.

With two direct qualification berths reserved only for the top-two finishers, well beyond its reach, Team China has realistically set its sights on either third or fourth place. If it can manage that, it will head into the next qualifying phase to compete for the two last tickets to the FIFA showpiece, which will be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The March 20 match away to Saudi now appears a do-or-die battle for Ivankovic's men, who completed a solid 10-day offseason camp last month.

"We've basically had an overhaul of the national team (over the past year), adding some new blood, becoming younger and slowly having adapted to a new system," Ivankovic said after the training camp in Haikou.

"Our boys worked really hard, knowing that they need to step it up a gear to prepare for the tough World Cup qualifiers ahead of us.

"I am glad that we proved to the fans that we are building a new national team, and we will try to pay back their support with better results."

Even with the team finishing the year languishing in 90th place in the FIFA world rankings, its worst position in a decade, Ivankovic has at least dug it out of the mire of 12 months ago, when the squad crashed out at the group stage of the 2024 Asian Cup in a frustrating goalless campaign — two draws and one loss — under former coach Aleksandar Jankovic.

Jankovic was fired immediately following China's exit from the continental soccer jamboree, prompting the Chinese Football Association to turn to the more experienced Ivankovic.

On the women's side, the "Steel Roses" finished 17th in the world and fourth in Asia. Australia's Ante Milicic took charge of the team in a year that lacked any official international matches, offering both Milicic and the squad a valuable opportunity to regroup.