The State of Chinese Football
Chinese soccer faces heavy dilemmas in the aftermath of Chinese New Year
The "New Year, New Weather" blessing sound, but China's soccer after the Spring Festival did not usher in the dawn. February 1, the 33rd AFC General Assembly held in Bahrain, China's soccer can continue the "soccer diplomacy" strategy, find their own position, the suspense is yet to be resolved. The suspense is yet to be solved. After the CFA delegation returns home, the preliminary "statement" of the men's national team coaching candidates will surface. With the World Cup in Qatar coming to an end and the 2026 tri-national World Cup qualifiers in North America starting in November, China's men's and women's national teams at all levels are facing unprecedented challenges.
In 2023, Chinese soccer will face more challenges!
After the Spring Festival, people are full of expectations for the future, but the situation of Chinese soccer is not optimistic. Since the "Li Tie case" was officially opened in November, the case is still pending. From the overall and future development point of view, the case needs to be investigated in depth, involving soccer managers, coaches, players and other "big fish", but also to thoroughly investigate the "chain of interests" links, especially "middlemen" and "unscrupulous brokers", "unscrupulous brokers" and "unscrupulous brokers". It is also necessary to thoroughly investigate the links in the "interest chain", especially the "middlemen" and "unscrupulous agents", and severely punish a number of black sheep before the soccer environment can be improved.
The mention of "middlemen" stems from the fact that many "middlemen" escaped punishment in the last "anti-gambling and anti-black" storm. Mistakenly believing that they are safe after the storm, they have been paving the way with "money" for years, forming a unique "interest chain" that has caused serious harm to Chinese soccer. The agents and "middlemen" who were jailed last time have been manipulating soccer behind the scenes since their release, and if these black sheep are not eliminated, it is difficult to say that Chinese soccer will be reborn.
Although the external situation has improved, the national team reorganization is the key. In previous years, Chinese soccer has never been like 2023, men's and women's national teams at all levels in the same year four sides. With the current level of competition, the breakthrough is extremely difficult.
In men's soccer, the national team will participate in the second stage of the 2026 World Cup qualifying round of 36, 99 age group u24 Asian Games, 2001 age group u22 national Olympic team Asian Cup qualifiers, 2003 age group u20 national youth team Asian Cup, 2006 age group u17 national junior team Asian Cup and other events. Women's soccer, the national team will participate in the Women's World Cup, Hangzhou Asian Games women's soccer, Paris Olympic Games Asian qualifiers and other events, the 2004 age group u20 women's youth team and u17 women's junior team will also prepare for the Asian Cup.
The situation of women's soccer may be better than men's soccer, but the case is not clear, and the change of the Football Association is imminent, how the Chinese Football Association is working is worrying.
The coaching search is still unknown
Despite the uncertainty, the CFA and the national administration are still on track. Youth national teams at all levels are training for the Asian tournament, with the 2003 u20 national youth team already training in the United Arab Emirates and the 2006 age group u17 national junior team focusing on preparations for the tournament. the 2001 age group u22 national Olympic team will also regroup at the beginning of next month in preparation for a trip to Croatia to recruit a local first division team.
Rumors about the Chinese men's national football team coaching candidates continue to circulate, but so far there has been no substantial progress. The New Zealand Football Association and the Chinese Football Association have not yet confirmed the news of "two warm-up matches with the Chinese team", one of the reasons may be that the coach of the national football team has not yet been confirmed.
Although "Li Tie case" is not yet resolved, but the national team reorganization has been determined. The CFA has prepared several contingency plans, including allowing Li to lead the team temporarily until a new coach is found. In addition, the national team will participate in a series of international warm-up matches to get ready for this year's World Qualifying Tournament.
It is reported that the national team and the Asian Games team will focus on preparations for the war, with extensive training after the end of military training to lay the foundation for the March competition window. The new season of the Chinese Super League will be restarted after the end of the national team's competition window, and the professional league rectification and cleanup work will be carried out simultaneously.
