Introduction
Although football is followed in Taiwan, with the Premier League, the Champions League and tournaments like the World Cup attracting a regular audience, it is still something of a backwater sport, and their league does not have the status of other East Asian countries like Japan or South Korea. The Taiwanese league does not rank among the top football leagues in Asia.
Baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, cycling and even taekwondo all rank above it in terms of popularity, whilst the sport suffers from a lack of funding, poor amenities and infrastructure at grassroots level, and an absence of role models.
The national team is currently ranked 153 in the world by FIFA.
Although there are hopes this may change with the gradual professionalism of the game with the introduction of the Taiwan Premier League, what would give the game a major boost would be the development of players good enough to play in one of the major leagues in Europe, although the days when a Taiwanese player would be good enough to play in the Premier League, for example, seems still far off.
Here are five players who, though, have appeared for European clubs.
Emilio Estevez Tsai
One man who has already made the journey is creative midfielder Emilio Estevez Tsai, who has a Canadian father and Taiwanese mother, and who has been compared to Eden Hazard (The Chelsea not the Real Madrid version).
At the age of 18 he spent a year training with Spanish side Levante, and he also had a trial with EFL side Queens Park Rangers.
In 2020 he joined Eredivisie side Den Haag, initially joining on a one year contract, with the option of a further 12 months). However, he only made two appearances for their under 21 side before his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.
He had a brief spell playing in the Spanish fourth division, before returning to Asia. He currently plays for Hong Kong side Rangers.
Dingyang Zhou
Dingyang Zhou, whose anglicised name is Timothy Alexander Chow, is another one who has already had European experience, having been born in England. As a youth, he joined the academy system of Wigan Athletic, and he would go on to make 16 appearances for their senior side,
He then moved north of the border to Scotland, and spent three seasons with Ross County, for whom he made a further 44 appearances.
The centre-back then spent a year in Serbia with Spartak Subotica, before switching to China first with Henan Songshan Longmen and now currently with Chengdu Rongcheng.
He hopes to earn a move back to Europe in future.
Yaki Aithany Yen Tavio
Another centre-back with European experience is Yaki Aithany Yen Tavio. He was born in Spain to a Taiwanese father, and Spanish mother, and played for a series of lower division teams – Fuerteventura, Lucena, Atlético Granadilla, UD Pájara Playas de Jandia, and El Cotillo.
He then made the switch to China and has gone on to play for Changchun Yatai, Qingdao Huanghai and Wuhan Three Towns. Earlier this year he joined Nanjing City.
Xavier Chen
Another player with extensive European experience was right-back Xavier Chen, who, although born in Belgium, was eligible to play for Taiwan because of his father, whilst his grandfather was a prominent diplomat for the country.
He began his youth career in Brussels with Anderlecht, before making the switch to KV Kortrijk, where he progressed through to the senior ranks, making 38 appearances with them.
Chen then switched to KV Mechelen for whom he played 124 times, before a two year spell in China, with Guizhou Renhe. He returned to Mechelen to play out the rest of his career.
He carved his name into Taiwanese football folklore by scoring the winning goal on his international debut against Malaysia in 2011. It was the first time in more than a decade they had beaten a team ranked in the FIFA top 150.
Lin Chia-Sheng
Lin Chia Sheng was something of a forerunner, after becoming the first player born in Taiwan to play in Europe.
The midfielder had played for a series of local teams, his career was put on hiatus whilst he underwent military service.
Once he had completed that, and determined to resume his footballing career, he travelled to England and joined the reserve team of Hayes, who played in the Conference South division before they went bankrupt.
He then joined the reserve team of Bolton Wanderers, who at the time were a Premier League team, although he never made a senior appearance for them.
He represented Taiwan at both football and futsal.