The Chinese national football team will host four teams including Uzbekistan and North Korea in Chongqing this September.

Reporter Chen Yong reports Following the two international match windows in March and June, the national team is continuing its buildup for the Asian Cup at the start of next year. In the international match week beginning September 21, they will take on Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan, and Palestine in Chongqing.

After Shao Jiayi officially took charge of the national team, the March international break was mainly aimed at adapting to the playing style of top world teams. The team participated in the FIFA Series held in Australia, facing World Cup entrants Curacao and African side Cameroon. In June, the focus shifted to Asian Cup preparation, with two friendly matches against Singapore and Thailand.

Following FIFA's merger of the September and October international windows, the national team will play four matches in this new combined window. The host city is confirmed as Chongqing, and the four tentative opponents are Uzbekistan (ranked 7th in Asia), North Korea (21st), Tajikistan (17th), and Palestine (15th). In the Asian Cup group stage, China is in Group C with Iran (2nd), Syria (12th), and Kyrgyzstan (18th). Among these warm-up opponents, Uzbekistan is a top-tier Asian side, having just completed its first World Cup campaign, while the other three are mid-tier, which mirrors the level of opponents China will face in the Asian Cup group stage.

For the national team, the upcoming tasks are primarily the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers. The previous Asian Cup was held during the World Cup qualifying campaign, which greatly disrupted preparations. Although Aleksandar Jankovic led the team to an away victory over Thailand, his poor Asian Cup performance led to his dismissal, causing extreme difficulties in the subsequent World Cup qualifiers. With the adjusted schedule, the current Asian Cup takes place before the World Cup qualifiers. Theoretically, Asian Cup results are not crucial, but in practice, poor performances have often led to the coach's downfall, as seen with Jankovic and earlier Gao Hongbo's first tenure.

The 2027 Saudi Arabia Asian Cup will be held from January 7 to February 5, 2027. Before that, the national team has two international windows: September 21 to October 6 and November. During these two training camps and friendlies, as well as the Asian Cup early next year, China needs to quickly adapt to the current mainstream playing styles of international football, prepare for facing strong Asian teams in the next World Cup qualifiers, and also steadily accumulate victories and ranking points to move from the middle tier of Asian football back to the upper-middle tier.

Additionally, after the 26th round of the Chinese Super League on September 6, there will be a break of over a month, providing ample preparation time for the U23 national team for the Asian Games. The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will open on September 19. The 23-player squad for the U23 team has been finalized. The core task is to continue the recent positive trend of national teams, bring more confidence to Chinese football, and lay a foundation for the 2005-born Olympic team.