On October 6, a piece of news about the national football team detonated the soccer circle in Beijing Youth Daily. It was reported that China's soccer team will undoubtedly commit to the 2023 Asian Cup tournament as a second-tier team.
In the evening of October 6, FIFA released a new edition of the international ranking list of men's football teams. Surprisingly, China's ranking slipped from 78th to 79th. Nevertheless, we are still in the 11th position in the AFC's ranking list of representative teams.
The AFC is reportedly planning to unveil the venue for the Asian Cup on the 17th of this month. If the venue falls in South Korea, the tournament will likely be held in June or July next year. As a rule, the AFC usually organizes the group draw about six months before the tournament opens. Therefore, the draw is likely to be held before the end of the year.
The year-end rankings of FIFA member associations' representative teams will be revealed on December 22nd. At this point, it seems unlikely that the other AFC member association teams (national teams) will have international warm-ups during the World Cup, with the exception of the Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia representatives who will be playing in the Qatar World Cup proper. As a result, their ranking points are unlikely to change. This means that China is likely to remain 11th in Asia in the year-end rankings and participate in the Asian Cup draw as a second-tier team.
