China at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of China's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the "World Cup Finals"). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final. [http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/fifafacts/ffprojects/ip-401_06e_tv_2658.pdf 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage] (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.]

The "China national team" was founded in 1924 and joined FIFA in 1931-58, and then from 1979. They have been perennial contenders for the Asian Cup, most recently finishing second in the AFC 2004. But China failed to score a goal in their maiden FIFA World Cup appearance in the Football World Cup 2002. Qualifying for the tournament has been considered the greatest accomplishment in China's football history. As football is widely followed in China, triumph by the national team is considered to be a source of national pride. Around 300 million people tuned in to broadcasts of China's World Cup 2002 matches with a staggering 170 million new television sets being bought by citizens in order to watch their nation's first World Cup appearance. There were over 250 million viewers for the Asian Cup 2004 finals, the largest single-event sports audience in the country's history. [FootballAsia.com, [http://2004.afcasiancup.com/en/news/index.asp?aid=36656&cid=1129&sqid=833&amth=8&ayr=2004 "Asian Cup final smashes viewing records"] , 12 August 2004.] The team is colloquially referred to as "Team China" (中国队), the "National Team" (国家队) or "Guozu" (国足, lit. "national foot").

Records

:"*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

References

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/ FIFA Official Ranking of all Participants at Finals 1930–2002. FIFA Match Results for all Stages 1930–2002]
* [http://www.fifa.com/index.html?language=en FIFA official site]