The official website of the AFC interviewed Shui Qingxia, the new coach of the Chinese women's football team, and the cover picture used a picture of Shui Qingxia directing the game in the heavy rain. The AFC said that Shui Qingxia, as a player, has won the Women's Asian Cup with the Chinese women's football team 5 times. In an exclusive interview, Shui Qingxia said that it was a great feeling to return to the big family of Chinese women's football. At the same time, Shui Qingxia also supports more Chinese players to stay in the West, because higher quality matches can help enhance the confidence of players.
Screenshot of the official website of the AFC
In the sonorous rose era of Chinese women's football in the last century, Shui Qingxia was the absolute main force of Chinese women's football, and won 5 women's Asian Cup championships with the team, and the Chinese women's football team at that time was the absolute sister of Asian women's football. This time, Shui Qingxia took over the coaching whip of the Chinese women's football team and faced the heavy responsibility of re-challenging a sister in Asian football. On the eve of the start of the Asian Cup, Shui Qingxia was interviewed by the AFC.
AFC: You are the first former women's football international to coach Chinese women's football, can you describe how it feels to accept the job, especially in the face of such an important game?
Shui Qingxia: First of all, it is a great honor to be able to return to the national team. I used to be a player, now I'm a coach. It's an honorable and challenging job, but most importantly, it's a fantastic feeling to be back in the national team family.
AFC: As a player who participated in and won several editions of the Women's Asian Cup, what are some of the particular fond memories of this tournament?
Shui Qingxia: The most memorable moment was when our whole team won the championship, and everyone shared the moment of championship joy. Of course, it's a good feeling to interact and learn from other Asian teams during the game.
AFC: Your professional football career is in the golden age of Chinese women's football, but the current world ranking of Chinese women's football is 19 and the Asian ranking is 5th, can you talk about the past 15-20 years, what has changed?
Shui Qingxia: China's women's football team has achieved quite good results in the past, but after more than 10 years of development, the level of women's football in other asian countries and regions has also made significant progress. We can see that many countries and regions in Asia have begun to vigorously develop women's football, and the strength of these emerging national teams is getting stronger and stronger, while the traditional Asian teams are also getting stronger and stronger. The Chinese women's football team still has a lot to improve, and in my opinion, the most important thing at the moment is that I hope we can play our own characteristics in the future games.
AFC: We recently saw Chinese players like Tang Jiali, Shen Mengyu and Shen Monroe playing for European clubs, is that what you would like to see more Chinese players do in the next few years?
Shui Qingxia: From my personal point of view, I will support players to play abroad. On the one hand, staying in The Ocean will help Chinese players update their understanding of modern football. On the other hand, it is also an opportunity to interact with international players. Players will have a better sense of self, high-quality matches can help them build self-confidence, and I hope that more players will choose to play abroad in the future.
At the same time, Shui Qingxia also talked about the Performance of the Chinese Women's Football Team through the Olympic Qualifiers and know its own strength. She hopes that the players of the Chinese women's football team will have self-confidence and be more confident in the future games.