China’s new men’s football coach Aleksandar Jankovic targets 2026 World Cup – ‘no time to waste’
- Jankovic will get straight to work with a training camp and friendly against New Zealand after he is promoted from China’s age-group coaching ranks
- But the new boss admits the China team ‘have a lot of things to do’ before they can return to the global showpiece – including getting fitter
The China men’s football team were set a target of reaching the 2026 Fifa World Cup as Aleksandar Jankovic was unveiled as their new coach.
Jankovic, who will oversee his first match – away to New Zealand – later this month, was presented to Chinese media on Wednesday after his promotion last Friday from the country’s youth set-up.
China’s struggling senior side sit 80th in the world rankings and have not qualified for the World Cup since making their sole appearance at the finals in 2002.
“Receiving this opportunity to coach the national team is a big reward, and I am extremely motivated,” the 50-year-old Serb said at a press conference in the southern island province of Hainan.
“I know every long journey starts with a small step. As head coach, I must have a clear picture of the big target. The general goal is the 2026 World Cup, and the Chinese team must play.”
The 2026 tournament, which will be staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the first edition to feature an expanded 48-team line-up rather than 32, meaning that at least eight Asian teams will be included. Jankovic, though, was not assuming that China’s task had become easier.
“The target is the same,” he said. “We have a lot of things to do before [we can get there]. We have no time to waste.”
Early tasks for Jankovic – whose assistant coaches will be former internationals Shao Jiayi, Zheng Zhi and Chen Tao – will include preparing for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and the 2026 World Cup’s Asian qualifiers.
Before heading to China in 2018 to coach the under-19 B team, Jankovic was Serbia’s under-21 assistant manager and worked at several European clubs including Red Star Belgrade in Serbia and Standard Liege in Belgium.
He later joined China’s under-23s and led a China squad to the East Asian Football Championship in Japan last July, in which teams largely fielded under-23 sides.
“I spent 28 months watching games in China and observing players not only from the Chinese Super League but also from League One and League Two,” he said on Wednesday. “I know all levels of Chinese players well.”
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The new boss also named his first squad, for training camps this month in Hainan and New Zealand, culminating in a friendly against New Zealand in Auckland on March 23, which will be China’s first senior international outing in a year.
It was made clear that Jankovic was not taking the friendly lightly – and that his players would need to work on their fitness.
“I fully agree the big goal is determined by what we do every day,” he said. “I make no difference when preparing big games and friendly games. We have to start implementing all the details from our first training [on Thursday].
“Our players need to improve their physical condition, intensity and aggressiveness. Otherwise we will always stay at home when the big competition comes. It’s a challenge for me as a coach if we want to match up with the good teams in the world.”
Jankovic’s 24-player list included Ai Kesen – a free agent after parting ways with Brazilian club Gremio in January – but not Hong Kong-born Dai Wai-tsun, who played for Shenzhen last season and made seven appearances for the national team in 2022.
China squad
Liu Dianzuo, Deng Hanwen, Liu Yiming, Xie Pengfei, Ren Hang, He Chao (all Wuhan Three Towns), Wang Dalei, Liu Binbin, Liu Yang, Chen Pu (all Shandong Taishan), Wu Lei, Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng, Jiang Guangtai, Li Ang, Xu Xin, Li Shuai (all Shanghai Port), Wang Shangyuan (Henan Songshan Longmen), Wu Xi (Shanghai Shenhua), Lin Liangming (Dalian Pro), Tan Long (Changchun Yatai), Wei Shihao (Guangzhou FC), Sun Guowen (Dalian Football Association), Ai Kesen (free agent).
