Hupu January 1 Sports Network reporter Ma Dexing at the beginning of the new year, a list of intercontinental and international competitions to be held by Chinese football in 2022.
Men's football national teams of different competition tasks at all levels
Men's football national team
2022 Chinese men's football biggest task is still Qatar World Cup qualifiers Asia Top 12. In theory, national football team still has the opportunity to qualify for the third place playoffs, but after Li Xiaopeng replaced Li Tie as head coach, the commander's debut was to challenge Japanese team at the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium on January 27, and then challenge the Vietnam team away on February 1, the night of the Chinese traditional Chinese New Year. Whether the Chinese national football team can prolong their lives and whether the match between Saudi Arabia and Oman on March 24 and 29 is just a routine matter, these two games will be decisive.
If you can qualify for the playoffs, the Chinese national football team will go to Doha in June to continue fighting; if you miss the playoffs, the national team competition window designated by FIFA can only arrange warm-up matches from May 30 to June 14. However, with the current domestic epidemic prevention policies and actual situation, this may be difficult, and it is not even ruled out that the league will be arranged at this stage. After the
12 round of the top 112, the most important event of the Chinese national football team in the second half of the year is the East Asian Cup match held in China from July 19 to 27. Although the Chinese national football team can send out the strongest lineup, the two strong Korean and Japanese teams may only participate in the local second-tier lineup.
U23 national football team (99 age group)
For the 99 age group U23 national football team, the most important event task this year is the Hangzhou Asian Games men's football match that will start on September 6. According to the requirements of relevant parties, the task and goal of entering the quarterfinals and even the semi-finals must be completed at home. However, this team has not even participated in an international competition in 2020 and 2021, while Asian teams of the same age are practicing everywhere and warming up has not been interrupted. What will the Chinese U23 national football team compete with Asian powers? This is probably the most worrying thing.
Since 2006 Doha Asian Games , the Chinese U23 national football team has not reached the quarterfinals for three consecutive times in the Asian Games, including Guangzhou Asian Games held at home in 2010. This time, the home game is the last time that the "post-90s" in Chinese football have participated in the intercontinental competition. Can they give fans some hope? I'm afraid no one can give a clear answer.
U21 National Youth (01 Age Group)
Since failing to qualify in the 2019 Asian U19 Youth Championship qualifiers, the Chinese 2001 Age Group has never participated in international competitions of the same age. Fortunately, looking at the future 2024 Paris Olympics, Chinese Football Association allows the coaching team led by to Yaodong to participate in the China League Two consecutively in 2020 and 2021, which is very helpful to the growth of players in this age group. In fact, in the past season, many players in this age group have begun to appear in the Chinese Super League and China League One. Although many foreign players in the Chinese Super League and China League One have left the game, it undoubtedly provides more opportunities and growth platforms for these young players.
After entering 2022, although teams of this age do not have the task of intercontinental competitions, if they want to have a better stage and space for growth, they should no longer compete in the China League Two, but should strive to participate in the higher level of China League One. Of course, these are two completely different concepts from "the Chinese national football team plays in the Chinese Super League".
U19 National Youth Team (03 Age Group)
The Chinese 2003 U19 National Youth Team, head coached by Espanyol Antonio (Note: Antonio, head coach of Longmen, Henan Songshan, will usher in its first small exam this year. From September 10 to 18 this year, this team will participate in the 41st U20 Asian Cup qualifiers group stage. The event was previously named "Asian U19 Youth Championship". AFC launched a new packaging from 2021, renamed the event and moved the overall event back one year. The final stage competition is scheduled to be held in Uzbek in the first half of 2023. The teams that won the top four will participate in the U20 World Youth Championship in Indonesia in 2023.
The Chinese National Youth Team has never received a ticket to the World Youth Championship since 2005; now even the ticket to the U20 Asian Cup final stage game requires hard work, because in the last qualifier group stage, that is, the 2019 qualifier group stage, the Chinese National Youth Team has not received a ticket to the final stage game. Can Antonio lead the team change this situation this time?
U17 National Youth (05 age group)
2005 age group team in the next year, like the 2001 age group team, there is no official intercontinental event task, but because it belongs to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics age group team, the Chinese Football Association has been formed since last year, appointing the head coach of the U16 National Youth Team Yang Chen to serve as the head coach of this age group team, responsible for the establishment and preparation work. This year, the main focus will be on domestic training.
U16 National Young Master (06 Age Group)
China's 2006 U16 National Young Master team, head coached by Yang Chen, will also usher in the first quiz this year and will participate in the group stage of the 20th U17 Asian Cup qualifiers from October 1 to 9. The previous name of this event was the "Asian U16 Junior Championship", and the AFC also changed the name of the event from 2021 and moved the overall back one year. The final stage competition is scheduled to be held in Bahrain in the first half of 2023. The teams that won the top four will participate in the U17 World Youth Championship in Peru in the second half of 2023.
China's 2000-age and 2002-age teams failed to qualify for the previous Asian Youth qualifiers, while the 2004-age team regained the final stage of the Asian Youth Championship. However, due to the epidemic, the final stage of the Asian Youth Championship that should have been held in 2020 was also cancelled, so the Chinese national Youth Team did not have the opportunity to prove its ability and level in the Asian arena. This time, Yang Chen led the 2006-age team to compete, and entering the finals was only the first level.
In addition, the 3rd Asian Youth Games football match, which was originally supposed to be held in Shantou in November last year, was postponed due to the epidemic. The new match schedule is scheduled to be held in Shantou in December this year. According to the competition rules, the players participating in the Asian Youth Club men's football match are players born after January 1, 2006. Yang Chen will lead the team to play the game at his doorstep. How is his performance? Also worth paying attention.
Part 2: Women's national team reconstruction is the top priority
Compared with the men's national team, the national team is the top priority for the women's national team. The Chinese women's football team will hold the first round of the 20th Women's Football Asian Cup group stage on January 20. The opponent will be Chinese Taipei team , and the Chinese women's football team will fire the first shot in 2022.
The Tokyo Olympics suffered a crushing defeat once again putting the Chinese women's football team in an unprecedented shock. Not only was the head coach replaced Shui Qingxia with Jia Xiuquan , but the management body and management model of the entire team also underwent major changes. The Asian Cup was the first time that it took off since the "rebirth". The Asian Cup of Women's Football Team is also the qualifier for the 2023 Women's World Cup in Asia. There are a total of "6+2" seats in Asia, that is, in addition to the 6 direct qualifying teams (including Australian Women's Football Team ), there are 2 places to participate in the playoffs. The entire Asian women's football world still has a "fight of the top five". As North Korean women's football team withdraws from the qualifiers, there is no suspense about the Chinese women's football team entering the World Cup finals with Japan, Australia and South Korea. However, whether the Chinese women's football team can make a breakthrough in the Asian Cup and regain the Asian championship title is probably the focus of fans' attention.
In addition to the women's football Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, the women's football match at the Hangzhou Asian Games held in the local area from September 6 to 24 will be another opportunity for the Chinese women's football team to regain Asia. If we say that because of the short time to take over and the Asian Cup of Women's Football Team is a bit hasty, we will have a better chance of taking advantage of the advantage of fighting at home and winning the women's football gold medal. After all, the Chinese women's football team won a silver medal four years ago. Since the of the Bangkok Asian Games in 21998, the Chinese women's football team has never been involved in the Asian Games women's football gold medal. At the Guangzhou Asian Games that were also held at home in 2010, the Chinese women's football team failed to win even a medal, and only ranked fourth.
Before the Asian Games, the East Asian Cup Women's Football Championship held in the local area from July 19 to 27 is a good training opportunity. The Japanese women's football team, the North Korean women's football team, the Korean women's football team, etc. will become the targets of Chinese women's football team training and is also the best outpost before the Asian Games.
Originally, the 10th U20 Women's Football Asian Cup final stage should be held in Uzbek in 2022 (Age Team 02) and the 11th U17 Women's Football Asian Cup final stage stage (Age Team 05) in Indonesia. However, the AFC decided to cancel these two events due to the epidemic in July last year, and decided to continue these two events in Uzbek and Indonesia in 2024. Of course, the age of the participating players has also changed accordingly. Therefore, the Chinese women's youth team and the Chinese women's youth team will no longer have intercontinental competition tasks this year. The original two women's youth teams have been disbanded, and the Women's Department of the Football Association has also begun to form the U20 women's national youth team in the 2004-age group and the U17 women's national youth team in the 2007-age group, and start training to prepare for the next qualifiers in 2023.
Part 3: How the club deals with the Asian Champions League is the focus
In terms of foreign wars, in addition to the men's and women's national teams at all levels, the most eye-catching thing is probably that the club plays in the annual AFC Champions League. In terms of men's football, due to the impact of objective factors such as the epidemic in the past two years, the Chinese Super League clubs have performed disappointingly in the AFC Champions League for two consecutive years. The Chinese Super League has also dropped from first at the end of 2019 to seventh at the end of 2021 in the AFC technical points ranking. If no changes are made in the 2022 AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League may not even be able to ensure enough seats.
represents the four teams in the Chinese Super League that competed in this year's AFC Champions League, namely Shandong Taishan, Shanghai Haigang, Guangzhou team and Changchun Yatai . Group draws will be held on January 17. However, whether the semi-finals of the four will eventually be able to participate as they wish will not be determined after the AFC's independent review agency conducts the qualification review. According to the AFC competition schedule, the playoffs of East Asia before the AFC group stage will be held on March 15, and the group stage will be held in a competition-based manner between April 15 and May 1, with a round every three days. It is still unknown whether the Chinese Super League club can successfully participate in the competition under the epidemic.
In terms of the Women's Football League, after the first two experimental events, there is no clear statement on whether the AFC will once again conduct a similar experimental event this year and prepare for the first official event in 2023. But if sponsored, Wuhan Jiangda Women's Football Team, who represented China last year's Women's Super League champion, will face the same situation as the semi-finals of the Chinese Super League. Although
has entered 2022, the situation and difficulties faced by Chinese football are almost the same as in the past two years. The biggest problem is that national teams at all levels cannot arrange international warm-up matches normally, and even going abroad to participate in competitions is greatly restricted. This will be another challenging year for Chinese football.
