The first list of the Chinese women's football team in 2025: players and coaches have new faces

Reporter Wang Wei reports From January 7th to January 24th, the Chinese women's football team will start the first training camp in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province in 2025. It is worth noting that there are many "newcomers" selected in the list of the women's national football team in this issue. In addition, as one of the representatives of the Chinese women's football team in the "sonorous rose" era, former international player Fan Yunjie entered the work team as the deputy team leader, and at the same time entered the coaching staff, former international player Ou Chuliang of the men's football team.

A total of 26 players were selected for this training camp, more than half of the players aged 25 and below, all the players are from domestic clubs, Wang Shuang, Wang Yanwen, Shen Mengyu, Shen Menglu and other foreign players who play in overseas clubs are in the season, and there are no important games in this period, so there is no call-up.

Jiangsu women's football team has 7 people including Xu Huan, Dou Jiaxing, Jin Kun, and Huo Yuexin selected, which is the largest household; Shanghai women's football team has Tang Jiali, Zhang Xin, Wang Siqian and other 5 people into the list; In addition, Chen Qiaozhu, Peng Shimeng, Yuan Cong, and Chen Xiubing of the Guangdong Women's Football Team were selected. A total of 16 people from the above three teams were selected, accounting for more than half of the total number.

Compared with the training camp on November 14, except for goalkeepers Xu Huan, Peng Shimeng, and Pan Hongyan, the rest of the positions have been adjusted. Midfielders Chen Xiubing, Wang Aifang, Wang Zhen, Yan Qi and Zhijie are all new players selected in this period. The forward position has increased by one person compared with the previous period, and Muse Siwen, Shao Ziqin and Yuan Cong have been re-selected. The total number of defenders in this period decreased by one, and Si Yu, the central defender of the Changchun women's football team, was newly selected.

The unsuccessful players include Yao Lingwei of Jiangsu Women's Football Team, Fang Jie of Shanghai Women's Football Team, Gao Chen of Changchun Women's Football Team, and Zhang Rui of Henan Women's Football Team. There are traces of the defeat of Yao Lingwei and Fang Jie, the two left the team early during the training camp in October, did not participate in the Yongchuan Invitational Tournament, and did not get the opportunity to play during the training camp in November. As for Gao Chen and Zhang Rui, one is 32 years old and the other is 35 years old, age is an important reason.

Judging from the list, the Chinese women's football team's training camp is still based on the inspection of the players and the run-in team, Chen Xiubing, Wang Aifang, Wang Zhen, Yan Qi, Zhijie, Musewen, Shao Ziqin, Yuan Cong, Si Yu and others were selected, giving head coach Milicic the opportunity to inspect the newcomers more closely.

Center forward Yuan Cong has previously been selected for Milicic's Chinese women's football team, and this time it is considered to be a return; Muse Siwen, Shao Ziqin, and Zhijie have also been selected for the Chinese women's football training team at different times; In addition, Wang Aifang went to the United States with the team in November 2023 to participate in the warm-up match, but at that time, it was the women's football U23 coach Wang Jun who temporarily led the team.

Chen Xiubing, Wang Zhen and others are really selected for the first time in the Chinese women's football team. Chen Xiubing, from the Guangdong women's football team, has characteristics on the offensive end and has good footwork, especially in free kicks and corner kicks, and has repeatedly performed brilliantly in the Women's Super League. However, the competition in the women's midfield is fierce and whether she can stay will depend on her performance in training and in games.

Wang Zhen is a midfielder, a native of Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, who entered the Hebei women's football team in 2021 and was selected for the U20 women's national youth team in 2023, and participated in the U20 Women's Asian Cup in Uzbekistan from February 28 to March 17, 2024. It is worth mentioning that this time, after Liu Shanshan was selected for the national team for the first time in 2013, after 11 years, the Hebei women's football team members were selected for the national team again.

Milicic hopes to further examine the players who have performed well in the league through this training camp, and select more fresh forces for the women's national team. In addition, the Chinese women's football U23 training team trained in Sanshui, Guangdong Province in mid-December under the leadership of the women's football assistant coach Qiao Liqi, and Wang Aifang, Wang Zhen and other players in the U23 training team were also selected for the Chinese women's football team.

In the management team, the Chinese women's football foreign goalkeeper coach Didulica was unable to participate in this training camp for some reason, and the Chinese Football Association specially invited the goalkeeper coach Ou Chuliang, who had coached in both the men's and women's national teams, to join the team.

It is worth noting that Fan Yunjie, a former international player of the women's football team and one of the representatives of the "sonorous rose", entered the Chinese women's football management team for the first time as the deputy leader. Fan Yunjie has won the Olympic Games and the Women's World Cup runner-up on behalf of the Chinese women's football team, and has also worked in the AFC and has a good reputation in the women's football world. The Chinese Football Association invited Fan Yunjie to serve as the deputy team leader, also to improve the team's cohesion and the efficiency of coaching management.

Milicic took office in May last year and has been coaching for more than half a year, judging from the situation reflected in the previous training camp and warm-up matches of the Chinese women's football team, there is a clear gap in terms of physical, speed and technical level when facing European and American teams. The Chinese Football Association has made a general plan for the preparation of the Chinese women's football team in the new year, and "speed" has become the key word. The second is to speed up the renewal of the lineup and get younger as soon as possible.

It is understood that in this training camp, in addition to understanding the technical characteristics of new players through training, it will also warm up with the local team to test the results of training. After this training camp, the Chinese women's football team may reassemble in early February to start overseas training.