The Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) was founded in Mainland China as the China Football Association (CFA) in 1924 and relocated to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of the Chinese Civil War. The country joined FIFA in 1954,[5] first under the name Taiwan, then renaming to Chinese Taipei in 1982.[5]
In 1970, an agreement was reached by the Chinese Taipei Football Association and the Hong Kong Football Association to the effect that Hong Kong footballers were no longer eligible to play for Taiwan. Since then, Chinese Taipei has been a minnow and failed to qualify for any FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup competitions.
Chinese Taipei reached their highest FIFA World Ranking of 121st in July 2018, under the guidance of renowned English coach, Gary White.[10] Since his arrival in the autumn of 2017, White's strategies aimed not only to improve the national team, but also the standards of football on the island.[citation needed] An extended scouting operation looking for talents of Taiwanese heritage from abroad was also part of his plans.[citation needed] The cast proved to be successful when players such as Tim Chow, Will Donkin and Emilio Estevez were tapped in for the national team.[citation needed]
In December 2017, Chinese Taipei hosted the CTFA International Tournament, an A-level competition that also included Laos, the Philippines and Timor-Leste. It was created to test the country's team in preparation for international friendlies and tournaments in future years. Chinese Taipei won all of their three games, winning the mini-tournament and their first official international trophy in 55 years.[11] Thanks to the four goals he scored (two of which in the final match against Laos), striker Li Mao was deemed as the competition's top scorer.[12]
White led a successful period for the Chinese Taipei, including winning 7 FIFA international games in a row. Charged with taking Taiwan to their first AFC Asian Cup since 1968, White had taken over the guide of the national team halfway through the qualification campaign: eventually, he brought them to the third round of the qualifiers, missing a spot to the tournament (in favour of Bahrain and Turkmenistan) by just one point. White was then offered a contract by the Hong Kong national team and left his role in Taiwan in September 2018.[13]
Following the Englishman's departure, progress started to plummet during the following year. Vom Ca-nhum, employed as a caretaker manager while he was guiding the Chinese Taipei U19 squad, was unable to qualify his side to the final round of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship (even though they won their match against Mongolia).[citation needed] Then, another Englishman, Louis Lancaster, who previously assisted Gary White during his time on the island, was appointed as the main coach to take his first senior management position.[14] However, things got even worse for the Chinese Taipei: in 2019, the team won just one out of the nine matches they played (a 2–0 win in a friendly against Hong Kong),[15] and they were prematurely eliminated from the continental qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, losing all of their first five games and getting thrashed by Australia (1–7), Kuwait (9–0) and Jordan (5–0).[citation needed] Following the shocking results in the first phase of the qualifiers, Lancaster was sacked in December 2019,[16] and the federation soon decided to hire Vom Ca-nhum again, this time on a full basis, as he was one of the few coaches on the island to have already gained an AFC Pro A coaching license.[17]
As of January 2023, the official kit supplier is local Taiwanese sports brand Entes.[18]
Stadium
Chinese Taipei played their home matches at the Kaohsiung National Stadium which is able to hold up to 55,000 seating capacity. The stadium, designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, makes use of 1 MW of solar cells to provide most of its power needs. The stadium's semi spiral-shaped, like a dragon, is the first stadium in the world to provide power using solar power technology. The solar panels covering the vast external face of the stadium are able to generate most of the power required for its own operation, as well as additional power that can be sent to the grid.
Chinese Taipei used to play their match at the 20,000 capacity stadium Taipei Municipal Stadium which as of now, will be second in line to host the national team matches. On 3 July 2011, the stadium recorded its highest attendance for a football game when Chinese Taipei hosted Malaysia in the first rounf of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification second leg match, when 15,335 spectators attended the game.
1 Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA 2 Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA 3 Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA 4 Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in Oceania Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.
1 (15 February 2024)[1]
Philippines 2–1 China 
China 3–2 South Vietnam 
Guam 0–10 Chinese Taipei 
Kuwait 10–0 Chinese Taipei 
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