On January 29th, the CFA released a series of preparatory notices for U-size teams at all levels, but the Chinese men's soccer team was missing. The face of the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup and the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifying double test, the men's football assembly time and coach selection is still suspenseful.
The new national coach's selection is pending, behind which there are unknown considerations. Last November, the selection of the national football team will be on the agenda, the initial three sets of proposals, the selection of foreign coaches, Jankovic double line at the helm of the national team and the U24 team, as well as Li Xiaopeng to stay as a popular discussion.
The CFA prefers foreign coaches to join the team, as Li's temporary acting nature makes his coaching more of an emergency solution, while Jankovic is obviously under more pressure and challenge if he is the head coach of two teams at the same time.
Against this background, the FA is urgently searching for a suitable foreign coach. Under the double pressure of time and task, the FA was eager to find a coach who knew Chinese and Asian soccer, especially West Asian soccer, inside out. They quickly contacted a number of potential candidates, but unfortunately, these candidates were also favored by other Asian national teams, and there was a lack of interest in the Chinese national football position.
The selection process has come to a standstill due to the impasse over the coaching candidates. The FA has had to revisit the first two options, and is currently weighing whether to keep Li Xiaopeng on board, or let Jankovic resign as head coach of the U24s and take charge of the national team instead. After all, the main event for the U24s is only the Asian Games, and the national team is the top priority.
Winter training, which was originally scheduled to begin in early February, could be postponed until March due to coaching issues, meaning the window of preparation for the first international matchday of the year will have to be postponed.
