The China–Japan football rivalry is a competitive sports rivalry that exists between the national football teams of the two countries, as well as their respective sets of fans. Historical tensions had stemmed this rivalry into one of the most heated rivalries in Asia and the world.

Men's matches The men's football teams of China (then called the Republic of China) and Japan first met each other in 1917 at the Far Eastern Championship Games, which Japan hosted.

Prior to the 1990s, China was one of Asia's dominant men's football teams, while football in Japan was still limited to amateur levels, partly due to little interest in development for the sport. Thus, China dominated Japan with 13 wins, 3 draws, and 4 losses. However, Japan's establishment of professional football in the 1990s helped turn the tide. Nowadays, Japan has become far more successful than China in men's football with 16 wins, 6 draws, and just 2 losses. Additionally, China has not beaten Japan since March 1998, and Japan won four AFC Asian Cups and have played in every FIFA World Cup since 1998, while China are runners-up in two Asian Cups (one on home soil) and qualified for just one World Cup in 2002, which Japan co-hosted along with South Korea.

#DateVenueCompetitionHome teamScoreAway teamGoals (home)Goals (away) 1 9 May 1917 Shibaura Ground, Tokyo Far Eastern Championship Games Japan 0–5 China Fung Kin Wai , Kwok Po Kan , Tong Fuk Cheung 2 1 June 1921 Shanghai Far Eastern Championship Games China 4–1 Japan 3 24 May 1923 Osaka Far Eastern Championship Games Japan 1–5 China 4 20 May 1925 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila Far Eastern Championship Games 0–2 Lee Wai Tong 5 27 August 1927 Zhonghua Stadium, Shanghai Far Eastern Championship Games China 5–1 Japan Suen Kam Shun , Kai Bingfen Misao Tamai 6 30 May 1930 Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium, Tokyo Far Eastern Championship Games Japan 3–3 China Shiro Teshima , Tadao Takayama , Hideo Shinojima Suen Kam Shun , Chan Kwong Yiu , Dai Linjing 7 20 May 1934 Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila Far Eastern Championship Games China 4–3 Japan Tam Kong Pak , Lee Wai Tong Akira Nozawa , Takeshi Natori 8 1 May 1966 Unknown Friendly Japan 1–2 China 9 23 June 1975 Government Stadium, Hong Kong 1976 AFC Asian Cup qualification China 2–1 Japan Li Yutie , Ke Wushang Kozo Arai 10 11 June 1980 Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou Friendly 1–0Li Xiangfu 11 26 December 1980 Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification 1–0Rong Zhihang 12 2 June 1981 Omiya Football Stadium, Saitama Friendly Japan 0–0 China 13 30 September 1981 Singapore Lion City Cup Japan 2–0 China 14 31 January 1983 Kochi Nehru Cup China 5–0 Japan 15 31 May 1984 Omiya Football Stadium, Saitama Kirin Cup Japan 1–0 China Hisashi Kato 16 27 July 1986 Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Merdeka Cup 4–2Hisashi Kaneko , Hiromi Hara , Satoshi Tezuka Li Zheng , Wang Yong 17 2 June 1988 Mizuho Stadium, Nagoya Kirin Cup Japan 0–3 China Wang Baoshan , Gao Sheng , Ma Lin 18 10 May 1990 Nishigaoka Stadium, TokyoFriendly Japan 2–2 China Tomoyuki Kajino , Osamu Maeda , Zhang Shaowen 19 13 May 1990 Okayama Stadium, OkayamaFriendlyJapan2–0 China Osamu Maeda , Mitsunori Yoshida 20 29 July 1990 Workers' Stadium, BeijingDynasty CupChina1–0 Japan Wu Qunli 21 24 August 1992 Workers' Stadium, BeijingDynasty Cup China 0–2Japan Masahiro Fukuda , Takuya Takagi 22 6 November 1992 Hiroshima Stadium, HiroshimaAFC Asian CupJapan3–2 China Masahiro Fukuda , Tsuyoshi Kitazawa , Masashi Nakayama Xie Yuxin , Li Xiao 23 18 May 1993 ShanghaiEast Asian GamesChina3–2 Japan 24 23 February 1995 Mong Kok Stadium, Hong KongDynasty CupJapan2–1 China Toshiya Fujita , Hisashi Kurosaki Gao Feng 25 12 December 1996 Tahnoun bin Mohamed Stadium, Al AinAFC Asian Cup1–0Naoki Soma 26 7 March 1998 National Stadium, TokyoDynasty Cup Japan 0–2China Li Bing 27 15 March 2000 Universiade Memorial Stadium, KobeFriendly Japan 0–0 China 28 26 October 2000 Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, BeirutAFC Asian Cup China 2–3JapanQi Hong , Yang Chen Fan Zhiyi , Akinori Nishizawa , Tomokazu Myojin 29 8 October 2002 Masan Stadium, ChangwonAsian Games0–1 Satoshi Nakayama 30 4 December 2003 National Stadium, TokyoEAFF ChampionshipJapan2–0 China Tatsuhiko Kubo 31 7 August 2004 Workers' Stadium, BeijingAFC Asian Cup China 1–3JapanLi Ming Takashi Fukunishi , Koji Nakata , Keiji Tamada 32 3 August 2005 Daejeon World Cup Stadium, DaejeonEAFF Championship Japan 2–2 China Teruyuki Moniwa , Tatsuya Tanaka Li Jinyu , Zhang Yonghai 33 20 February 2008 Chongqing Olympic Sports Center, ChongqingEAFF Championship China 0–1Japan Koji Yamase 34 6 February 2010 Tokyo Stadium, TokyoEAFF Championship Japan 0–0 China 35 21 July 2013 Seoul World Cup Stadium, SeoulEAFF Championship3–3Yuzo Kurihara , Yoichiro Kakitani , Masato Kudo Wang Yongpo , Sun Ke 36 9 August 2015 Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, WuhanEAFF Championship China 1–1 Japan Wu Lei Yuki Muto 37 12 December 2017 Ajinomoto Stadium, ChōfuEAFF ChampionshipJapan2–1 China Yu Kobayashi , Gen Shōji Yu Dabao 38 10 December 2019 Busan Gudeok Stadium, BusanEAFF Championship China 1–2Japan Dong Xuesheng Musashi Suzuki , Genta Miura 39 7 September 2021 Khalifa International Stadium, Doha (Qatar) 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification China 0–1 Japan Yuya Osako 40 27 January 2022 Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama Japan 2–0 China Yuya Osako , Junya Ito 41 24 July 2022 Toyota Stadium, Toyota EAFF Championship Japan 0–0 China 42 5 September 2024 Saitama Stadium, Saitama 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Japan7–0 China Wataru Endo , Kaoru Mitoma , Takumi Minamino , Junya Ito , Daizen Maeda , Takefusa Kubo 43 19 November 2024 Xiamen Egret Stadium, Xiamen China 1–3JapanLin Liangming Koki Ogawa , Ko Itakura 44 12 July 2025 Yongin Mireu Stadium, Yongin EAFF Championship Japan 2–0 China Mao Hosoya , Henry Heroki Mochizuki

Head-to-head record

CompetitionChina winsDrawsJapan wins Total 15 9 20

Women's matches # Date Venue Competition Home team Score Away team Goals (home) Goals (away)131 August 2018Gelora Sriwijaya, Palembang2018 Asian GamesJapan1–0ChinaYuika Sugasawa 214 December 2019Busan Gudeok Stadium, Busan2019 EAFF E-1 Football ChampionshipChina0–3 JapanMana Iwabuchi 34 February 2022Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune2022 Women's Asian CupChina2–2 JapanWu Chengshu , Wang Shanshan Riko Ueki 426 July 2022Kashima Soccer Stadium, Kashima2022 EAFF E-1 Football ChampionshipJapan0–0China

Head-to-head record

CompetitionChina winsDrawsJapan wins Total 0 2 2

See also

China–Japan relations

References