The Chinese men's football team announced the new training roster, and 17-year-old high school student Zhao Songyuan was selected for the first time

China News Service, Beijing, September 8 (Liu Mengqing) The Chinese Football Association released the fourth training notice for the national men’s football team in 2026 on the 8th. Since many of the main players of the national team will participate in the Asian Games with the men's football team, the current 30-man roster has undergone major changes. Bunyamin, Zhao Songyuan and many other newcomers under the age of 20 have been selected for the first time. Zhao Songyuan is a high school student.

According to the announcement of the Chinese Football Association, in order to prepare for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese National Men’s Football Team is scheduled to go to Wuhan and Chongqing from September 12 to October 7, 2026 to organize training camps and participate in warm-up matches.

Head coach Shao Jiayi continues to lead the team. This current roster has veterans as the core team, while also absorbing some newcomers who have performed well in the league. Wei Shihao, Jiang Guangtai, Serginho and other main players are all on the list. Young players Yang Mingrui, Buniamin and Wang Gengrui were successfully selected due to their outstanding performance in the Chinese Super League this season.

Zhao Songyuan, who is only 17 years old, was selected into the Chinese men's football team as a high school student. He comes from the High School Affiliated to Tsinghua University and is the only player among the 30 people who does not play in a professional club. In the U17 Asian Cup in May this year, Zhao Songyuan performed well, scoring goals in the group stage against Japan and the quarter-finals against Saudi Arabia. In the final, they faced the Japanese team again. Zhao Songyuan, who came on as a substitute, made a penalty kick and hit it.

Judging from the distribution of clubs, Chengdu Chengdu has become a "major exporter of international football" with a total of 7 players selected; Shandong Taishan contributed 4 players, Shanghai Haigang, Tianjin Jinmen Tigers and Zhejiang Team each have 3 players on the list.

Zhang Yuning, Wang Yudong, Baihe Lamu and others will compete with the U23 national football team in the Asian Games, so they were not selected for the current national football team list.

During the training camp, the national football team will conduct four international warm-up matches against Palestine, New Zealand, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. In the 2027 Asian Cup group stage, the Chinese team was in the same group as Iran, Syria, and Kyrgyzstan.