The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has formed the China U18 Men's Football Team to prepare for the upcoming soccer competition program in the China-Japan-Korea Sports Exchange Event to be held in Wakayama, Japan in late August. The team consists of elite players in the 2005/2006 age group. According to Beiqing Sports, the head coach of the U17 national team, Yang Chen, is unable to continue leading the team because his father is seriously ill and needs care. Shao Jia, the current assistant coach of the national team, will act as the acting head coach of the U18 national team.
Prior to this, the CFA had planned to select the original 2006 Chinese U17 men's soccer coaching staff to lead the U18 team to Japan. However, U17 national soccer coach Yang Chen could not continue to lead the team as he recently needed to stay home to take care of his ailing father. With the U17 national soccer team's loss in the group stage of the U17 Asian Cup last month, the team's historic mission has come to an end, and Yang Chen's leadership of the team has automatically ended under his contract.
The CFA has decided to temporarily appoint Shao Jiayi, the current assistant coach of the national soccer team, as the head of the coaching staff of the U18 national soccer team, and to place Chen Tao, another assistant coach of the national soccer team, on the coaching staff of that team.
According to the plan, China's U18 national soccer team will start training at Beijing Sport University on July 24, and about 25 players are expected to participate.
