Sports: The AFC will adjust the rules of youth qualifiers and abolish the East and West Asian divisions to the detriment of China

According to the "Sports Weekly" news, at the special meeting of the AFC Competition Committee on January 10, the rules of the qualifiers for youth competitions such as U17, U20 and U23 Asian Cups became the focus of discussion among the delegates. It is reported that in the future, it is possible to cancel the East and West Asia divisions and directly classify them according to the results of the previous event, which is not conducive to China's youth teams at all levels.

In the previous AFC youth qualifiers at various levels, all were grouped according to geographical location, mainly divided into East Asia and West Asia, the results of the previous event were used as the basis for grading, and then the West Asian region was divided into six groups, and the East Asian division was divided into five groups, and the first place in each group plus the best four or five second places to qualify for the final stage.

Such a format may seem reasonable, but because there are relatively few strong teams in East Asia and the gap between strong and weak is more obvious, teams in East Asia can often have the advantage in terms of goal difference when comparing second place.

Therefore, the delegates clearly proposed that in the qualifier stage, it is best not to divide the East and West Asian regions, but to directly divide the files according to the results of the previous event, and then conduct an open lottery. This will give weak teams in various regions more opportunities to play against the strong teams in Asia. It is reported that the plan will be finally voted on at the next competition committee meeting in March.

If the format of the qualifiers changes, it may not be a good thing for China's youth teams at all levels. The competitive level of Chinese youth teams has shown a downward trend over the years, and the national junior teams in the 2000 age group, the 2002 age group and the national youth team in the 2001 age group have not entered the final round of the corresponding age group. Although the 2004 national junior team won the right to qualify for the 2019 U17 Asian Cup, it was largely due to the fact that they had won enough goals on the weak team. If we encounter stronger teams such as West Asia or Central Asia, it is difficult to predict whether China's youth troops at all levels will be able to successfully qualify from the qualifiers.

(Little Tiger)