On May 21, Soccer Daily wrote an article about Chinese women's soccer players studying abroad. The article said that although the number of Chinese women's soccer players studying abroad seems to be considerable, the quality is not optimistic.
The first Milicic Women's National Team roster was announced, with Wang Frost (Tottenham Hotspur), Li Mengwen (Brighton), Shen Menglu, Shen Mengyu (Celtic), Tang Jiali (Las Planas Orientes), Wu Chengshu (Dijon), and Uri Gumura (Central Coast Mariners) seven study abroad players on the roster. In addition, there are 10 Chinese women's soccer players who have studied abroad in Zhang Linyan, Yuan Cong and Yang Lina.
Unfortunately, while the number of overseas players may seem impressive, their "quality" is not. Players who play in Europe's top women's soccer leagues are hardly starters. Shen Menglu, Shen Mengyu, Uri Gumura and other players who can guarantee consistent playing time are not in the top women's soccer leagues. Australia has more than 20 women's warm-up opponents playing in the Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Sweden and North America. Not only do they far outnumber the Chinese women's soccer team, but they are also world-class in terms of league effectiveness and can serve as starters.
If the Chinese women's soccer team wants to narrow the gap with the top Asian teams in a short period of time, it not only needs to increase the number of overseas players, but also "improve the quality". More women's soccer players need to enter the first-class women's soccer league in Europe and the United States, and at the same time to have a stable playing time, so as to improve individual ability.
In the first-class leagues of women's soccer such as Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1, there are only seven international students on the Chinese women's soccer team's list in May, and there were only six international students in last year's Zhang Linyan and Yang Lina. It is difficult for them to stand firm and become absolute mainstays in the top European leagues.
At the beginning of the year, Wang Frost joined Tottenham Hotspur, a mid-table team in the Women's Premier League. So far, he has only made 6 substitute appearances, totaling 138 minutes. In addition, 10 games sitting on the bench. In the just-concluded Women's FA Cup final, Wang Frost played 36 minutes as a substitute. Zhang Linyan, who played for Tottenham Hotspur Women's Football Team in the second half of last year, made only three league appearances, totaling 56 minutes, and sat on the bench for another seven games. In the Women's League Cup and FA Cup, she made three appearances, totaling 147 minutes.
This season, Brighton Women's Lee made 10 appearances, 6 starts, 4 substitutions, and 13 times sitting on the bench, a total of 533 minutes. In total, she has played 533 minutes, which is only a quarter of the season's total, while fellow South Korean international striker Kim Min Lee has played 719 minutes, with 2 goals and 1 assist in 6 starts and 13 substitutions, which is a better performance than Lee. Oh Cheng-sook plays for Dijon, a weak team ranked eighth in Ligue 1, with 8 starts, 8 substitutions, and 10 times sitting on the bench in 721 minutes, which is only 1/4 of the season's total.
Don Chia-Li played a total of 379 minutes for Liga MX underdog Las Planas, making 3 starts, 8 substitutions, and 16 bench appearances, scoring only one goal. She made two appearances in the Copa del Rey, totaling 119 minutes without a goal. Lena Young played 710 minutes last season at Las Planas East, starting 7 games, subbing 5, and benching 7, playing only about 1/4 of a full season's worth of games. Yuan Cong, who played for the Rayo Vallecano women's soccer team in the second half of last year, was just third in the Spanish Women's Soccer League.
Although Shen Menglu and Shen Mengyu play for Celtic, a strong team in the Women's Scottish Premier League, the Women's Scottish Premier League is only ranked 13th in UEFA. The team didn't even make it to the Champions League in the second round of qualifiers this season, and the level of the league is predictable. Ujigumura is one of the club's absolutely dominant overseas players. This season, they have made 25 appearances for Central Coast Mariners, lasting 1,958 minutes and scoring 8 goals. However, even in Asia, the women's Australian Super League is not considered top level.
The more realistic targets for Chinese women's soccer study abroad are Japan and South Korea, and of the six study abroad players on the most recent South Korean women's soccer roster, Madrid CFF defender Lee Yong-joo plays for La Liga's mid-table women's soccer team. This season, she is considered a semi-starter after starting 11 substitute games and playing 1,323 minutes in 15 league matches, handing in two goals and two assists.
Cho Cho Cho Hyun and midfield forward Choi Ri are in favor of Women's Championship Birmingham City. Zhao Zhaoxian is a starter and Choi is a rotation player. Ji Xiaoran, who joined the Seattle Monarchs of the North American Women's Soccer League earlier this year, is also a starter for the club. Angel City FC's mixed-race striker Cathy Fell is only 16 years old and has yet to play this season. The problem for South Korea's women's soccer team is that it is aging badly, with Cho Cho Cho Hyo Hyun (35), Ji Siao Ran (33) and Lee Kim Min (30) all over the age of 30, and Choi Lee Lee also 29.
The most recent edition of the Japanese women's roster features 13 overseas players, with seven playing women's soccer in the English Premier League. Striker Riko Ueki, midfielder Hiroyuka Hayashi, and defender Risa Shimizu (West Ham United) are absolute mainstays. Midfielders Saori Takarada and Kikyo Hana, who were dropped from the roster, are absolute starters for Leicester City. Hasegawa Yui (Manchester City) is a player who plays for the Women's Premier League, and Nagano Kazuhana (Liverpool) is also an absolute starter among midfielders Miyazawa Hinata (Manchester United) and Hamano Maika (Chelsea).
In addition, the North American goalkeeper Zhu Yu, midfielder Princess Sugita, Miura Narumi, striker Jun Endo, women's Serie A champion Roma defender Kumagai Sahi, South Moe Hwa, women's Bundesliga Eintracht Frankfurt forward Chiba Rei Hai Cai, Japanese women's soccer study abroad players in a wide range of positions, the age group is reasonable, 12 people under the age of 25. Compared with the Japanese women's soccer study abroad focus on cultivating newcomers under 25 years old, Chinese women's soccer study abroad still has a long way to go.
