Football in China

Football in China consists of Association football as well as the China national football team. Football has been one of the most well supported sports in China, since it was introduced in the early 1900s. Ancient Chinese football was called "Cuju". The national governing body is the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Hong Kong and Macau have separate leagues.

According to FIFA ranking on 14th Feb., 2013,the Men's National Team is ranked 96^thin the world, and Women's National Team is ranked 17th.

Chinese football league system

Level	League
1	Chinese Super League 16 clubs ↓relegate 2 teams
2	China League One 16 clubs ↑promote 2 teams, ↓relegate 2 teams
3	China League Two 26 clubs, playing in two groups - 13 in Northern group and 13 in Southern group (2012 season) ↑promote 2 teams, no relegation
4	China Amateur Football League League Three includes 44 regional leagues. Most regional leagues have 2 divisions and some regionals have more than 2. Each regional league has at least 12 clubs at top level. Winners of each regional enter the national stage which plays in 2 (northern & southern) or 4 (northern, southern, western & eastern) groups. Top-8 clubs qualify for finals.