In the past 40-odd years, the Chinese soccer teams had tried seven times to enter the World Cup but failed. On October 7, 2001, the gap was finally filled — the Chinese National Men’s Soccer Team finally won the qualification for the World cup finals for the first time in history.
In the eyes of Chinese people, it marked the overall progress of Chinese sports, as well as an achievement of the professionalization reform in China’s soccer. Twenty years ago, China had no league soccer matches, box office, or soccer clubs, and few televised soccer matches. Today, China has league soccer matches at various levels, and a soccer club system of an embryonic form — foreign players are introduced, Chinese and foreign league soccer matches are televised live, and soccer lottery has appeared.
