The Chinese Taipei Football Association is the principal body for football in Taiwan. Officially known as the Republic of China Football Association within the country, it is internationally reckoned as the Chinese Taipei Football Association, owing to the country’s political status.
The Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) organises and oversees the affairs of the men’s and women’s national football teams and also the country’s premier football league. The CTFA is a member of the East Asian Football Federation, the Asian Federation Cup, and FIFA. Owing to its membership, the national teams participate in the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, national team competitions, and also the World Cup.
This article entails a brief history of the Chinese Taipei Football Association and its current status.
Chinese Taipei Football Association History
The Chinese Football Association was founded in 1924. It became a member of FIFA seven years later. Chinese football team competed in the Olympic Games in 1936 and 1948, introducing Taiwan to the global football map. To delve further into the history of the formation of the Chinese Taipei Football Association, we need a little insight into the political situation of the region.
After the civil war in 1949, there was a tussle between the ROC (Republic of China) or Taiwan and the PRC (People’s Republic of China) to claim their sovereignty as China over the region, including Taiwan and mainland China. This impacted activities like sports, including football.
The Republic of China later played a significant part in promoting football in Asia and was among the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation, which was established in 1954. The same year, the People’s Republic of China tried to block the ROC’s admittance to the FIFA Congress under the name the China National Amateur Athletic Federation.
However, the objection was overruled, and Taiwan was granted admission. The PRC continued its effort to exclude the ROC in the subsequent FIFA congresses held in 1956 and 1958, respectively.
The political tussle between the two states was now impacting the status of the sport in the region. In 1958, the PRC’s ACAF (All China Athletic Federation) notified FIFA that it was withdrawing from its federation membership. During reconciliatory meetings to readmit the ACAF, the Chinese Federation stipulated that it would only become a member once Taiwan was expelled.
Following this, there were further efforts to have Taiwan expelled from FIFA. Taiwan was debarred from the Asian Football Confederation in 1974 despite being one of its founding members.
Shortly after, Taiwan was entered as an interim member of the International Football Association’s Asian faction, the Oceania Football Confederation, and was made a permanent member in 1976.
Two years later, it was again suspended from the OFC after the national team had participated in the OFC and AFC world cup qualification in 1978, citing naming issues.
When the 41st FIFA Congress was held, another debate sparked over Taiwan’s FIFA membership, and the federation’s executive committee was entrusted with proposing a resolution to the dilemma. A year later, in 1980, at the FIFA Congress, the committee proposed that Taiwan would remain a part of FIFA and take on the name the Chinese Taipei Football Association. After this, the Chinese Football Association was also readmitted to FIFA.
Taiwan became a member of the Oceania Football Confederation again in 1982 after the FIFA ruling. It left the OFC and was readmitted to the AFC in 1989.
Taiwan National Football Teams
Although Taiwan has been a member of FIFA for more than 68 years, the men’s team has not been able to qualify for the World Cup. Currently, the team’s FIFA ranking is 157. The highest ranking of the team was 121 in 2018.
In the past, the national team has played in the Oceania Football Confederation and the AFC due to the political situation in the country, as we have already mentioned.
Taiwan’s women’s football team was one of the founding members of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. However, the team has never been able to qualify for the World Cup tournament. Currently, the team’s FIFA ranking is 38, while its highest ranking was 22 in 2003.
Taiwan professional Football leagues
Besides the national teams, the CTFA oversees the Taiwan Football Premier League and the Challenge League, a second-division league. The premier league was formed in 2017 and currently comprises eight teams. The Challenge League also comprises eight teams.
The Taiwan Football Premier League regular season starts in April and ends in November. Teams play 21 matches in a series of three-round-robin tournament format. The team ranking the lowest in the Premier League is relegated to the Challenge League, while the highest ranking team from the Challenge League season is promoted to the Premier League and takes part in its next year’s season.
