China's Men's Football Team Skips Fifa Asean Cup, Prepares for Asian Cup with Warm-ups

China’s footballers will not compete in the newly created Fifa Asean Cup this September, with the senior men’s team instead facing Palestine and North Korea in a five-team warm-up tournament for next year’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The country’s senior women and the men’s under-23 sides, meanwhile, will head to Japan for the Asian Games, where they will compete alongside their Hong Kong counterparts.

China have been fairly proactive this year in their build-up to the Asian Cup, playing teams they believe help them adapt to a more international style of football and those they think have a similar style of play to their opponents at the tournament in Saudi Arabia.

China took part in the Fifa Series 2026 in Australia in March, beating World Cup debutants Curacao 2-0 before receiving a reality check after losing 2-0 to Cameroon.

In June, they beat Singapore 2-1 and drew 0-0 with Thailand.

The coming four matches in Chongqing in the September-October window against Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan and Palestine will serve as a good litmus test for the national team to assess their progress and evaluate their chances at the Asian Cup, and for qualifying for the 2030 World Cup.