China’s men soccer team faces fan backlash after humiliating loss to arch-rivals Japan

Players in top European leagues led the way for Japan, with Liverpool’s Wataru Endo and Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma both scoring in the demolition at the Saitama Stadium, north of Tokyo, in 2026 World Cup final-round Asian qualifiers. Monaco’s Takumi Minamino also scored twice.

“This is humiliating,” one China fan wrote on social media platform Weibo, where the defeat has become a trending topic, garnering more than 460 million views by Friday morning.

That the defeat came at the hands of Japan adds to the agony for Chinese fans. Sporting rivalries between the two countries often bear the undertones of their historical relationship, strained by – among other sore points – Japan’s brutal occupation of China in the first half of the 20th century, and current disputes over the sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, which China calls the Diaoyus.

“This is the most shameful day for Chinese football,” another fan wrote on Weibo after the defeat, calling it “a day that will always sting Chinese fans” and “a pain that can never be erased.”

Another angry fan called for the team to be dismissed, writing: “It’s hopeless… It should be abandoned!”

Over the past decade China’s soccer officials – as well as leader Xi Jinping – have voiced ambitions of breaking into the sport’s upper echelons, and the country’s domestic league became a magnet for big-name players.

But in recent years the Chinese Super League has lost its luster – in part because of a wider economic slowdown and the government’s extremely strict response to Covid – while the national team has struggled. Earlier this year the team crashed out in the group stage of the Asian Cup in Qatar, without scoring a goal in three matches.

Compounding those factors is a major corruption scandal.

In March, Chinese courts sentenced some of the country’s most prominent soccer officials to jail as part of an anti-graft crackdown. Those ensnared by the probe included ex-soccer association head Chen Xuyuan and Li Tie, a former English Premier League player for Everton and former China head coach.

During Thursday’s game, Japan – ranked 18th in the world – could call on several familiar faces playing in top soccer leagues overseas.

Joining Mitoma, Endo and Minamino on the scoresheet were Celtic’s Daizen Maeda, Reims’ Junya Ito, and Takefusa Kubo, who plays in Spain with Real Sociedad.

Former player Fan Zhiyi, dubbed a trailblazer for being one of the first Chinese who played in the English leagues in the 1990s, said the loss was predictable, but not to that extent.

“It’s hard for fans to accept that we lost like this,” the now soccer coach wrote on Weibo, adding that the result illustrates “the World Cup is too far away.”

Speaking after the game, Zhang Yuning, a forward for China, acknowledged the defeat, but pledged to improve in the next game.

“We need to address this so that we can play better when we are back at our home turf,” he said.

The Chinese team, ranked 87th in the world, will play Roberto Mancini’s Saudi Arabia on September 10 in Dalian.

-CNN