The Football Association issued a notice to publicly select the coach of the U21 men's football team to prepare for and complete the 2026 U23 Asian Cup and the Asian Games.
Official announcement
All relevant units and personnel:
In order to prepare for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup and Nagoya Asian Games, build a new U-21 (age group 2003) national men's football team with superb skills, tenacious style, ability to fight hard battles and win honor for the country, and make every effort to complete the competition tasks and goals of the new cycle, the head coach of the U-21 national men's football team is now publicly selected after the study of the Chinese Football Association. The specific selection matters are notified as follows:
1、 Position information
（1） Position
Head coach of the U-21 National Men's Football Team (hereinafter referred to as the U-21 Men's Football Team).
（2） Objectives
1. Prepare for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup and complete the competition objectives;
2. Prepare for the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games and complete the competition objectives;
3. Complete the reserve of talents for the national men's football team, and tap and cultivate top young players.
（3） Contract Term
According to the event cycle time for U-21 men's football team to prepare for the competition, the contract period shall be determined by stages according to the completion of the competition tasks.
2、 Registration conditions
（1） Hold the professional level coach qualification certificate issued by the Asian Football Association or the equivalent level coach qualification certificate issued by other intercontinental football associations and the coaching license is within the validity period;
（2） Served as head coach of professional football team;
（3） Physical and mental health, good conduct, no doping violations, no criminal record and legal disputes that may affect the normal performance of the relevant duties of the national team;
（4） He has a strong desire to be the head coach of the U-21 men's football team and can strictly abide by the rules and regulations of the Chinese Football Association;
（5） Have rich experience of professional football players and coaches, have a high level of football theory, strong teaching ability and rich teaching experience, be familiar with football competition rules and anti doping regulations, and be able to accurately grasp the training and competition rules and characteristics of football events;
（6） Understand the development trend of international football, understand the development status of Asian football and Chinese football, understand the growth characteristics of Chinese youth, and be good at mining and cultivating young players;
（7） Be good at and dare to manage the team, and be able to lead the whole team to work hard to achieve the expected goals;
（8） In principle, the age shall not exceed 60 years old, and it can be appropriately relaxed for those who are particularly excellent;
（9） Unlimited nationality; Foreigners shall abide by Chinese laws and regulations and respect China's social system, cultural traditions and customs;
（10） Experience as head coach of professional football team in many countries is preferred; Previous experience as head coach of professional football team in Asia is preferred; Those who have participated in international football matches hosted by FIFA or ICFA as coaches are preferred.
