On May 21st, Football Daily published a thought-provoking report on the phenomenon of Chinese women's soccer players studying abroad. The report pointed out that although the number of players studying abroad is quite impressive, the overall quality is not optimistic.
In the latest edition of the Milicic Women's National Team roster, seven players who have studied abroad, including Wang Frost (Tottenham Hotspur), Li Mengwen (Brighton), Shen Menglu, Shen Mengyu (Celtic), Tang Jiali (Las Planas Orientes), Wu Chengshu (Dijon), and Ujjigurmula (Central Coast Mariners), have managed to make the cut. Ten players, including Zhang Linyan, Yuan Cong and Yang Lina, have also studied abroad.
However, despite the seemingly large number of study abroad players, their actual performance is not ideal. There are very few players who can be the main players in the top women's soccer leagues in Europe. Shen Menglu, Shen Mengyu, and Uri Gumura are not top-tier women's soccer league players, despite their steady appearances. In contrast, Australia alone has more than 20 women's warm-up opponents who play in the English Premier League, Ligue 1, La Liga, Sweden and North America, and their strength far exceeds that of the Chinese women's soccer team.
If China's women's soccer team wants to narrow the gap with top Asian teams in a short time, it needs not only to increase the number of overseas players, but also to improve the quality of players. More women's soccer players need to enter the first-class women's soccer leagues in Europe and the United States and secure stable playing time to improve their individual abilities.
In top leagues such as the English Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1, China's women's soccer team has only seven international students on its May roster, and last year Zhang Linyan and Yang Lina had only six international students. It is quite difficult for them to stand firm and become absolute mainstays in Europe's top leagues.
At the beginning of the year, Wang Frost joined Tottenham Hotspur, a mid-table team in the Women's Premier League. So far, she has only made 6 substitute appearances and accumulated 138 minutes. In the recently concluded Women's FA Cup final, Wang Frost played 36 minutes as a substitute. In the second half of last year, Zhang Linyan, who plays for Tottenham Hotspur Women's Football Club, made only three league appearances, accumulating 56 minutes, and sat on the bench in seven other matches. In the Women's League Cup and FA Cup, she made 3 appearances and played only 147 minutes.
This season, Brighton Women's soccer player Mona Lee made 10 appearances, with 6 starts, 4 substitutions, and 13 times sitting on the bench. 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 6 starts and 13 substitutions, posting 2 goals and 1 assist, 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, accounting for only 1/4 of her 721 minutes this season.
Don Chia-Li played a total of 379 minutes for Liga MX underdog Las Planas, making 3 starts, 8 substitutions, and sitting on the bench 16 times, scoring only one goal. She made 2 appearances in the Copa del Rey and accumulated 119 minutes without a goal. Last season at Las Planas East, Lena Young played 710 minutes, started 7 games, came off the bench 5 times, and sat on the bench 7 times, playing only about 1/4 of the time she did all season. 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 did not even make it to the second round of the qualifiers for the Champions League 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, racking up 1,958 minutes and scoring 8 goals. However, even in Asia, the women's Australian Premier League is not considered top level.
More realistic targets for Chinese women's soccer study abroad are Japan and South Korea. Of the six study abroad players on the most recent South Korean women's soccer roster, Madrid CFF defender Lee Yong-joo plays for the La Liga Central women's soccer team. This season, she is considered a semi-starter after making 11 starts and four substitute games in 15 league matches, playing 1,323 minutes and 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 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 mainstays for Leicester City. Hasegawa Yui (Manchester City), who plays for the Women's Premier League, and Nagano Kazuhana (Liverpool) are also absolute starters among midfielders Miyazawa Hinata (Manchester United) and Hamano Maika (Chelsea).
In addition, North American goalkeeper Zhu Yu, midfielder Princess Sugita, Miura Narumi, striker Endo Jun, women's Serie A champion Roma defender Kumagai Sahi, South Moe Hwa, women's Bundesliga Eintracht Frankfurt forward Chiba Rei Haikai, 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.
