Founded in 1924, the Chinese Football Association became members of FIFA in 1931 and competed internationally at the 1936[2] and 1948[3] Olympic games.

FIFA stipulations at the time required that once a withdraw be announced it must be confirmed three months later by registered mail.

[7] In 1992 the CFA under the auspices of the General Administration of Sport of China released plan to improve the quality of football in the nation.

Corruption within Chinese football has factored into the program missing government targets and, in 2022, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials launched an anti-corruption probe resulting in eight footballing officials being investigated for "suspected of violations of discipline and law".

[9] In August 2024, former CCP Committee Secretary of the CFA, Du Zhaocai, pleaded guilty to accepting more than US$6.1 million in bribes.

[10] On 10 September 2024, CFA banned 38 players, including former nationals, Jin Jingdao, Guo Tianyu, and five officials for life over allegations of match-fixing and other forms of corruption.

Since rejoining the international football community, the team achieved their highest FIFA ranking of 37 in December 1998.