The reporter reported coldly The U20 Asian Cup is approaching, and in the 23-man squad of the Chinese national youth team announced by the AFC, Du Yuezheng (Marbella, Spain), Chen Shihan (Rochefort United, Belgium) and Sun Kangbo (Vłdžowac, Serbia) all play in the European League. Among them, Du Yuezheng persuaded the Spanish club Marbella to release people in advance, and was shortlisted for the U20 Asian Cup squad as he wished, which shows that the national youth team attaches great importance to players in Europe.

In fact, looking at the list of all 16 teams participating in this year's U20 Asian Cup, we can also get a glimpse of the growing trend of U20 players from Asian countries staying abroad.

Two years ago, in the Uzbekistan U20 Asian Cup, there were 35 foreign players from 16 participating teams. However, in this year's U20 Asian Cup, although there are three teams from Vietnam, Thailand and Yemen that are all-local teams, the total number of foreign players has soared to 50, an increase of 15 over the previous year.

The national youth team was divided into Group A this time, and the Qatar team in the same group as the national youth team had as many as 13 players staying abroad, more than half of the total number of the team, of which the Spanish fourth-level Caraola club accounted for 10 people, which is the European club with the largest number of foreign players in the U20 Asian Cup.

All 13 Qatari players in Europe are concentrated in the lower Spanish league, which is the result of the Qatar Football Association's youth training taking root in Spain for many years. The Australian national youth team is in the same group as the national youth team, which has six players in Europe, the third highest number, in the four major leagues of England, Italy, France and Portugal. Together with Kyrgyzstan, which is the weakest group in the group, four players from Europe have been recruited to play in the Slovakia, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Portuguese leagues.

Outside of this group, the Syrian team has as many as 10 foreign players, ranking second, accounting for more than 40% of the team. The Syrian team's overseas players are distributed in 7 leagues in Europe and Asia, mainly naturalized players, including 3 from Germany.

It is worth mentioning that if it weren't for the refusal of the European League clubs to release them, there would have been more foreign players in this U20 Asian Cup.

Among the traditional Asian powerhouses, the Japanese team only has two foreign players this time, striker Yutaka Michiwaki (Beveren, B) and German-Japanese midfielder Nick Schmidt (St. Pauli, Bundesliga), who still plays for St. Pauli's U19 team. The 18-year-old has scored three goals in 17 appearances in the second division this season, while the 17-year-old Schmidt has also scored two goals in 14 appearances in the Bundesliga Under-19 this season. Defenders Keita Kosugi (Jurgarden Garden, Swedish Super League), Yumeki Yoshinaga, midfielder Kenshin Hoda (Genk, Bundesliga), Rinto Hanashiro (Stuttgart, Bundesliga), strikers Ryokawa Takada (Argentine Juniors, A.S. Liga) and Ken Shiogee (Nijmegen, Eredivisie) were all unable to return to the team because the club refused to release them.

South Korea's national youth team only played for the Portuguese Super League Portimão echelon striker Kim Tae-won this time, he has handed over 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 appearances in the Portuguese Super League reserve league this season, and is already the main team of the echelon. Winger Liang Mingge, who has just been loaned by Tottenham to Queen's Park Rangers in the Championship, and Kim Myung-jun, who joined Genk in the league, have also not been released by the club, and Kim Myung-jun played in the AFC Champions League elite league last year.

Iraq also only had one European player shortlisted this time, also because the European players who played in England and Germany were refused to be released by the club. The only player in the Saudi team to stay abroad is midfielder Ghamdi, who joined Nijmegen in the Eredivisie from Riyadh last summer. Iranian defender Andals and Uzbekistan midfielder Mirzaev both play for the Leganes echelon in La Liga, and they basically have experience in the club echelon of Europe's top leagues.

Other second-tier Asian teams, such as Iraq and Syria, rely more on naturalized young players from Europe, and in recent years Indonesia has joined the ranks of teams that rely on naturalized young players to strengthen their strength. Jordan's 17-year-old central defender Taha, who plays for the Grand Paris team, is the biggest player in the Jordanian national youth team. The Indonesian team previously naturalized the strikers of the Dutch second division of the Dutch duo team, Rafinus, Marcelinus (Logronis, Spain 4th division), and Jardim (Sao Paulo, Brazilian league). Rafins has already helped Indonesia win the 2025 Under-19 Southeast Asia Cup, and Marcelinus was born in Jakarta and went to Spain to study at an early age. In February, the Indonesian Football Association naturalized defenders Haypens (Emmen, Eredivisie) and Marquez (Nijmegen, Eredivisie), but the two could not change their membership in time to play in the U20 Asian Cup.

From the overall perspective of the U20 Asian Cup, the tide of Asian football has swept into the U20 age group. Whether it is sent from home country to Europe, or naturalized young players from Europe, it means that the competition in Asian football will be more fierce in the future.