After much turmoil, the Chinese men's soccer team is back on the road after a coaching change and anti-corruption campaign. In their most recent international matches, the Chinese team achieved a rare streak of victories with a win over Myanmar, followed by a win over Palestine. This achievement has not only reinvigorated the team, but also directly boosted the international rankings.
Soccer fans may recall that the Chinese men's soccer team once again met its Waterloo in the last World Cup and fell into an unprecedented low. In order to appease the dissatisfaction of the fans, the national football team since the 12 strong since there has been little movement. Up to half a year of preparation window, coupled with the nominal coach Li Xiaopeng's "disappearance", which is rare in the world of football.
At the end of last year, a storm of anti-corruption and anti-triadism was unleashed on the Chinese soccer world, with the top management of the Football Association (F.A.A.) almost completely wiped out, and the image of the national soccer team was in tatters. However, with the World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup approaching at the end of 2023 to early 2024, the national football team has had to regroup and actively prepare for the tournament in order to revitalize itself. Under the guidance of Jankovic, China has won back-to-back matches in recent national team competitions, defeating Myanmar by 4-0 and 2-0 scores respectively.
The two victories also allowed the national soccer team to rise steadily in the rankings. According to the latest national team rankings released by FIFA, China managed to overtake Congo and Honduras, temporarily rising to 79th place. This is the first time in the past two years that the national football team has broken through the 80th place, but there is still a big distance from the best ranking of 57th place a decade ago. Within Asia, the national football team is currently ranked 11th, and if they can continue their winning streak in the national team matches in September, and win against some of the higher ranked teams, we can reasonably expect the national football team to overtake Uzbekistan, and further advance in the Asian competition.
In terms of overall world rankings, Argentina remains firmly in first place, followed by France and Brazil in second and third respectively. It is worth noting that England managed to overtake Belgium and rise to fourth in the world. Croatia also managed to overtake the Netherlands to rank sixth in the world.
