Guangzhou daily all-media reporter Zhang Yi
After the fall of the 2019 UAE Asian Cup, Asian football has entered a new round of World Cup preparation cycle. Since the host of the 2022 World Cup is Qatar, the competition in Asia of this World Cup will probably be the most intense in history. For the Chinese Football Association, in order to achieve the goal of entering the final table World Cup in 2022, in addition to the scientific reconstruction of the national football team after the Asian Cup and the multi-pronged cultivation of the national football team, it is also necessary to conduct a “diplomatic” layout and game in Asian football.
2022 it is difficult to expand 48 teams in advance in the world cup
the national football team needs to protect asia’s top 8 to become the seed of the top 40
fifa recently announced the latest national team ranking, the Chinese team rose from 76th to 72th in the original total ranking. However, on the Asian list, it did not rise but fell. The national football team slipped from the 7th place in Asia to the 8th place in Asia. This result is obviously because the Asian competitors of the national football team have made progress too fast. Iran, Japan, South Korea and Australia are still the top four in Asia, but Qatar, who won the Asian Cup, jumped to the fifth place in Asia. In addition, the host team of this Asian Cup also surpassed the 7th national football team, so the national football team slipped to the 8th.
After the Asian Cup, the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian qualifier will be put on the agenda. According to the original plan, 32 teams participated in the 2022 World Cup final table, but it has been reported since last year that FIFA president Fantino intends to implement the plan of expanding the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams in advance. FIFA’s statement is to communicate with Qatar organizing committee and finally confirm it around March this year.
In fact, because Fantino did this, he just wanted to be re-elected in this year’s FIFA presidential election. Judging from the latest situation, vantino has become the only candidate after the deadline for the election of FIFA president, which also means that there is no suspense about his successful re-election in June this year. After this “political problem” is solved, Infantino may not advocate the expansion of the top 48 in advance of the 2022 World Cup. After all, Qatar cannot unilaterally host a World Cup with 48 teams, and their relations with neighboring countries have been tense in recent years. During the Asian Cup in January, Infantino visited the UAE to watch the match, during which he had communicated with the Asian Football League and Qatar on this issue.
As a result, it is highly likely that the Asian qualifier of the 2022 World Cup will continue to design the rules of the game according to the scale of the top 32. According to the previous competition rules of the Asian Football Association, the group draw FIFA World Cup qualification in 2022 is closely related to the ranking of the FIFA national team. The competition in the top 40 stage will start from September this year, when the 40 teams will be divided into 8 groups, and the second place with the best results in each group will be promoted to the top 12 stage. The group draw for the top 40 matches must be based on the latest world ranking before September. The national football team will definitely become the seed team as long as it maintains the top 8 in Asia, thus avoiding 7 new and old strong teams, the theoretical opportunity to advance to the top 12 will naturally increase. Of course, judging from the progress and talent reserve of each team in this Asian Cup, even if the national football team becomes the top 40 seed team, there is still no capital to underestimate the enemy.
Du zhaocai singled zheng mengkui in April this year
china does not rule out giving up the right to host the 2023 asian cup
in addition to ensuring that the hard power remains in the top 8 in asia after the reconstruction of the national football team, the Chinese Football Association will strive for the right to speak in the Asian Football Association this year. The Asian Football Association is scheduled to re-elect the executive committee of the Asian Football Association at the 29th Asian Football Association congress in Kuala Lumpur on April 6 this year, including the president of the Asian Football Association, five vice-presidents, six members of the FIFA Council and 14 other members of the Executive Committee of the Asian Football Association will serve from 2019 to 2023.
The current five vice-chairmen of the Asian Football Association represent West Asia, East Asia, South Asia, ASEAN and Central Asia respectively, among which the vice-chairman of the East Asia region is Zheng Mengkui, president of the Korean Football Association. At present, according to the nomination confirmed by the Asian Football Association, there are 4 people who participated in the Election of Vice President of East Asia in April this year, including Du Zhaocai, deputy director of the State Sports General Administration and secretary of the Party Committee of the Chinese Football Association, the current vice chairman Zheng Mengkui and two candidates from Guam and Mongolia. In addition, the Asian Football Association also announced that nine representatives including Du Zhaocai would run for six FIFA Asian regional directors.
Before, Zhang Jian, the executive vice chairman and secretary general of the Chinese Football Association, was elected as the Asian director of FIFA, and his term of office ended this year. Although Zhang Jian’s becoming a FIFA official is a rare highlight of Chinese football diplomacy, he has not brought too many positive changes to Chinese football in the past two years. In fact, the position of vice president of the Asian Football Association is more practical for Chinese football to enhance its “soft power. Especially in September this year, it will enter the top 40 cycle of the 2022 World Cup. Therefore, if Du Zhaocai can run for the vice president of East Asia successfully in the first half of the year, then the impact journey of Chinese football may remove more human obstacles.
Since Cai Zhenhua faded out of the football Circle, Du Zhaocai has been playing the role of the new leader of the Chinese Football Association. He led a series of reforms of the Chinese professional football league and youth training. Du Zhaocai ran for the vice chairman of the Asian Football Association this time. Although he said that it could not be compared with Zhang Jilong’s position of holding the first vice chairman of the Asian Football Association, under the background of the weakness of Chinese football nowadays, chinese football really needs a Chinese who can go deep into the core leadership of the Asian Football Association. If du zhaicai succeeds in the election, he will become the first Chinese deputy ministerial official to serve as the management of the Asian Football Association.
There is no doubt that Du Zhaocai’s biggest opponent at present is Zheng Mengkui. During the Asian Cup, Du Zhaocai had already gone to the UAE to communicate with the leaders of the Asian Football Association and the heads of football associations in major countries. His support would not be less than Zheng Mengkui.
In addition, the Asian Football Association has still not decided the host country of the 2023 Asian Cup. According to the previous bidding procedures, only China and South Korea are left, which is expected to be announced in May this year. Judging from the experience of hardware and hosting large-scale events, China will have a high probability of defeating South Korea. However, South Korea has never hosted the Asian Cup since 1960, and has hosted the U-20 World Youth Championship in 2017. It has the urgent need and ability to host the Asian Cup. Judging from the overall game strategy, the Chinese Football Association does not rule out giving up the “2023 Asian Cup”.