Jia Xiuquan, manager of the Chinese women's national football team, is set to resign and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has already started looking for a successor, domestic newspaper Football reported on Tuesday.

Jia is currently on vacation after the Tokyo Olympics. Most of the national team's players will attend the Chinese National Games, kicking off Wednesday in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, with Shui Qingxia as manager, Football reported. Whether Shui could become Jia's replacement was unclear. 

China's performance in Tokyo under Jia was disastrous: losing to Brazil 5-0, to the Netherlands 8-2 and then forced into a 4-4 draw against Zambia. 

Jia had brought many young players to Tokyo, rather than veteran core members, defending his decision by calling the Olympics a drill.

This could cost him his job as manager of the national team, although Jia himself has not said much about his future in the coaching position.

Finding a new manager for the national team however won't be easy, as expectations are high.

Jia led the Chinese women's team to silver at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, and China will probably target gold at the next Asian Games taking place in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, in 2022.

However, the road to Tokyo and the three unpleasant games there showed two things: First, there is a huge gap to fill between China and the world's top teams; second, China don't have a dominant advantage over opponents in Asia.

This means the title of the 2022 Asian Games will be a rigid challenge for China. And if the team doesn't win, whoever replaces Jia will come under even worse criticism.