| Origin: | Wuhan, China |
| Genre: | Chinese rock, indie rock, math rock, Midwest emo |
| Years Active: | 2011–present |
| Label: | Wild Records |
| Current Members: |
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Chinese Football is a Chinese indie rock and math rock band. It was founded in 2011, in Wuhan, China. The band self publishes their music under Xu Bo's own Wild Records label.[1]
Chinese Football is one of the few indie bands in China to get an international audience. Its style has been described as both math rock and midwest emo.
Chinese Football was founded by Xu Bo in 2011. He had named the band after the fellow math rock band American Football,[2] as well as a joke about the football team in China.[3] Xu Bo says his band was inspired by numerous musical genres, such as Pop-punk, J-Pop, and Indie rock.[4]
The first album of Chinese Football was released in 2015, the self titled Chinese Football.[5]
The band has anime characters on all its album covers, drawn by a friend of Xu Bo with the pseudonym of Space Layout.[6]
The band created a trilogy of EPs themed around video games, called the Game trilogy. The first one was called Here Comes a New Challenger, the second was Continue?, and the third was Win & Lose.[7] The album had a meta theme about Xu Bo's desire to become a famous rockstar.
Continue? was released in 2019, and there were two music videos for the songs "Continue" and "Electronic Girl".[8] The album's music was recorded in their hometown in Wuhan.
In 2019, the band opened for its inspiration American Football during their world tour in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
In summer 2021, the band started recording their first full length album since 2015 called Win & Lose. They started a tour to promote the album around China in October 2021, although restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China caused delays. While the album was originally meant to be released that fall, Xu Bo delayed it to 2022 due to a feeling of "not being completely satisfied". Win & Lose had a mixed reception in China, with its more pop sound leading to the band called "traitors". However, the album sold well, reaching the top of the math rock section of Bandcamp.
In June 2024, Chinese Football announced their first tour in North America, which they scheduled for October of the year.[9]