Reflections on the U17 Asian Cup: Chinese Football Needs More Than Cheers—It Requires a Systematic Support Operation

Reported by journalist Chen Yong Let’s do a rough estimate: theoretically, once the 2009-born youth team qualifies for the World Cup, the senior national team could be strong enough to qualify about a decade later, precisely when these players hit their peak at 27. Also, considering that the 2003-born and 2005-born youth teams—though not World Cup-bound—have both made it to the Asian Cup quarterfinals, the senior team’s World Cup comeback might come even sooner.

Of course, this is merely a theoretical projection. The real question we face is: Can Chinese football truly provide these young players with a platform for full growth and improvement, and how moldable are these players themselves? The former is what Chinese football stakeholders must work on now; the latter is what Chinese football needs to change in the future.

In 2002, the national team made it to the World Cup. Two years later, the 1985-born youth team reached the U20 World Cup, and the 1988-born youth team entered the U17 World Cup. The following year, the 1985-born youth team won all three group matches against Turkey, Ukraine, and Panama, then lost a thrilling 2-3 quarterfinal to Germany. The 1988-born youth team advanced from the group stage with one win and two draws, but lost 1-5 to Turkey in the quarterfinals.

Unexpectedly, that became the final chapter. Neither the 1985-born nor the 1988-born teams progressed smoothly afterward. Many factors hindered their development: strategic errors by the football association, the decline of the league, rampant match-fixing, gambling, biased refereeing, and corruption. Later, the rise and fall of money-driven football dealt another heavy blow to Chinese football, sacrificing not only the 1985 and 1988 generations but the entire post-1990 generation as well.

The current reforms in Chinese football are built on these painful lessons—aiming to revitalize the sport through clearer strategies, comprehensive support, and a cleanup of the football environment. For the post-2003, post-2005, and post-2009 players, the external environment is improving, but two major obstacles still lie ahead.

The first mountain is the system for transitioning and upgrading youth players to adult-level athletes.One aspect is the transition system—from age 16 to 21 or 23, enabling a smooth move into professional leagues. Another is the upgrade system—whether professional leagues can further elevate their skills, and whether overseas programs can help. This mountain is the one we most often discuss, reflect upon, and strive to improve.

The second mountain is the lack of sustainability and moldability caused by deficiencies in the training philosophy for Chinese youth players.For current Chinese football, the governance and competition systems are becoming clearer, but the training system remains chaotic and even contentious.

The most basic deficiency in training is perhaps technical ability. Technical football, narrowly defined, might equal passing and receiving, but broadly includes long passes, headers, and other comprehensive skills. Technical football is not a tactical concept but a training philosophy. Specific tactics—including possession, transition, and counterattacks—must all be rooted in technique. Sadly, this should be a consensus in Chinese football, yet it has become a source of dispute in recent years.

More severe than technical shortcomings are two other issues: the loss of overall athletic ability due to early specialization, and the lack of comprehensive qualities—including culture and personality—due to early centralized training.

(1) Loss of overall athletic ability due to early specialization. Early specialization includes several layers: First, the simplest—players' tactical positions are fixed too early, and they undergo complex tactical drills too soon, limiting their growth potential. Second, an extended layer—players focus solely on football training too early, neglecting comprehensive physical development. In other words, a footballer should first be a good athlete, but many Chinese footballers cannot even meet basic athletic requirements, such as poor flexibility. Some say Chinese players only know how to kick a ball—literally. Behind this are complex social and educational factors: children, burdened with heavy academic work, only have time left for football practice.

The problems caused by early specialization—lack of creativity, poor tactical adaptability, and insufficient physical fitness—are actually minor compared to the loss of passion that occurs during this process. In Chinese football's development, the extinguishing of passion is the fatal, irreparable wound.

In fact, early specialization itself stems from a lack of professionalism. A professional football training system includes—among other things—scientifically arranged training at different stages, a comprehensive and professional training setup, a more relaxed learning environment and development mechanism, and a more competitive growth path. It provides the best possible development through professionalism, care, incentive, and competition.

(2) Loss of comprehensive qualities—including culture and personality—due to early centralized training. The 2009-born youth team's rocky journey in the U17 Asian Cup was largely due to several players being dropped for disciplinary violations. This reflects the development bottlenecks faced by China's major training bases over the past two decades, all characterized by closed, isolated training environments.

In Europe and Brazil, children under 14 or 15 are forbidden from undergoing closed training, ensuring they stay connected with family, education, and society. But in China, children often leave home, normal education, and society at age 9 or 10. Even worse, during their crucial teenage years, they are surrounded only by male teammates, leading to a troubling phenomenon: many players struggle to build healthy emotional relationships with the opposite sex, causing ongoing problems. This also dampens young players' passion.

Due to these two deficiencies, the transition and upgrade from youth to professional players in Chinese football lacks momentum: players have poor adaptability and limited sustainable development prospects.

A Japanese coach working with a Chinese professional youth team told our reporter that after the U17 Asian Cup final, one should observe the overall development of players in this age group. He believes Japan's squad will see greater changes because Japan has a deeper player pool—even those not in the U17 team are highly capable. Japanese football has built a solid competitive system, while Chinese youth football, though showing growing strength, still has a long way to go before achieving comprehensive improvement.

The system for transitioning and upgrading youth players to adults is currently a key focus for Chinese football. Several ongoing efforts revolve around this priority:

(1) Further improving the competition system: First, merging the U19 group of the China Youth League with the U21 league to form a U20 league, using a home-and-away format to give young players a better growth platform. The U20 league is the most important transition system from youth to professional. Second, refining the competition formats for the National Games and the Three Major Sports Games, providing U16, U18, and U20 players another competitive platform, maintaining a high-pressure, high-competition environment.

(2) Improving the B-team participation system in professional leagues: Starting from the 2024 season, Chinese Super League B-teams can compete in the China League Two. So far, five Super League B-teams have joined, benefiting the 2005-born youth team. From the 2027 season, China League One will allow Super League B-teams to be promoted. This system, designed to ease the transition from youth to professional, is also used in several European countries—Porto's B-team even won the Portuguese second division title.

(3) The above two systems focus on transition; the upgrade system has two aspects. First, building a healthier professional league to serve as the main stage for young players. The Chinese Football League has prioritized professional integration, holding two Sino-British youth football exchanges centered on this topic. Second, sending players abroad—like the 2009-born team's most consistent performer, Wan Xiang, who currently plays for Red Star Belgrade's youth setup. This year, the Chinese Football Association also introduced a player overseas incentive plan.

There are more layers to this transition and upgrade system, too many to list. For Chinese football, the future focus is not only on transition and upgrade but also on reshaping the training system—especially training philosophy. Some of this work falls to Chinese football professionals, such as building consensus on technical football, promoting multi-position training, protecting players' creativity, and fostering comprehensive physical development. But some aspects are beyond their control—including social, cultural, and educational environments. For instance, during the U17 Asian Cup, two or three youth team members faced public criticism, online bullying, and even malicious slander. That is a tragedy for Chinese football.

Positive changes are also emerging. Beyond closed training models, the growth of campus football and social youth training institutions has given more young players better environments, and competition mechanisms are improving. But these are still nascent, not yet forming a stable and effective training system.

Among the three fundamental drivers of football development—economic, governance, and cultural—the reforms at the national level over the past four years have focused more on governance. The current boom in city leagues and the Chinese Super League reflects economic drivers. But what Chinese football lacks most is cultural drive: a healthy social, cultural, and educational environment that gives young players the best space to develop, maintain passion, and grow efficiently. This must be the next direction for Chinese football.