China ditch Fifa Asean Cup, will face North Korea, Palestine in Asian Cup warm-up
Hong Kong and China also discovered on Thursday who they will face in the men’s and women’s football group stages at the Asian Games
China’s footballers will not compete in the newly created Fifa Asean Cup this September, with the senior men’s team instead facing Palestine and North Korea in a five-team warm-up tournament for next year’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The country’s senior women and the men’s under-23 sides, meanwhile, will head to Japan for the Asian Games, where they will compete alongside their Hong Kong counterparts.
China have been fairly proactive this year in their build-up to the Asian Cup, playing teams they believe help them adapt to a more international style of football and those they think have a similar style of play to their opponents at the tournament in Saudi Arabia.
China took part in the Fifa Series 2026 in Australia in March, beating World Cup debutants Curacao 2-0 before receiving a reality check after losing 2-0 to Cameroon.
In June, they beat Singapore 2-1 and drew 0-0 with Thailand.
The coming four matches in Chongqing in the September-October window against Uzbekistan, North Korea, Tajikistan and Palestine will serve as a good litmus test for the national team to assess their progress and evaluate their chances at the Asian Cup, and for qualifying for the 2030 World Cup.