In a dramatic finale to the group stage of the U17 Asian Cup on May 13, China’s U17 men’s football team secured a vital 2-0 victory over Qatar. The win not only gave the squad their first triumph of the tournament but also ensured they advanced as group runners-up.
With the top eight teams of the U17 Asian Cup earning direct berths to the U17 World Cup (formerly known as the U17 World Youth Championship), China’s U17 side has finally broken a 21-year absence from global competition for the country’s men’s youth national teams. The last time a Chinese men’s youth team participated in a world tournament was the 2005 U17 World Cup in Peru.
The senior men’s national team hasn’t graced a World Cup since the 2002 Korea/Japan edition—now 24 years ago. The U20 team’s last global appearance was the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, a gap of 21 years.
Previous attempts by the Chinese Football Association to qualify for world youth tournaments ended in disappointment last year. But this generation of U17 players, often hailed as the “strongest in years,” has finally ended the long wait.
Wang Yudong, one of the standout performers in the group stage, helped steer the team through a rocky start that included a shock loss to Indonesia in the opening match. That loss was seen as a major underperformance relative to the team’s potential.
Now, after securing group-stage survival and a spot in the U17 World Cup, the team can focus on showing their true strength in the knockout rounds.