China youth star Tao Qianlong back in fold 16 months after six month ban for breaking Covid-19 curfew
- Tao Qianlong was one of six under-19 players kicked out of training camp in May 2020 after breaking Covid-19 curfew to go drinking
- Highly rated Dalian Pro player celebrates selection for Chinese under-22s on social media 480 days after suspension
Chinese youth footballer Tao Qianlong has celebrated being welcomed back into the national team set-up some 16 months after he was banned for six months for breaking a Covid-19 curfew to go out drinking.
Tao – who was named among the top 60 youth talents in world football in The Guardian’s Next Generation list in 2018 alongside South Korea’s Lee Kang-in and Japan’s Takefusa Kubo – was one of six players to be suspended by the Chinese Football Association last June after breaking curfew at an under-19 training camp in Shanghai last May.
The Dalian Pro player and his teammates Liu Zhurun, Peng Hao, Ren Lihao, Han Dong and He Longhai – left the 35-player camp at midnight on May 30, 2020, to go drinking.
They were all suspended by the CFA until November for breaking the Covid-19 control regulations and banned from being called up for China at any level for six months.
“It was a severe violation of the team‘s epidemic control regulations, and caused negative impacts on the whole team,” the CFA said at the time, promising further action from the players’ clubs.
On Thursday, Tao celebrated being called up for the Chinese under-22 national team training camp in Xianghe, Hebei province, on his Weibo account.