Overview of China, Japan and South Korea Women's Football Abroad: Japan is far ahead in numbers, and Chinese women's football still needs to work hard

With the Chinese New Year approaching, the Chinese women's football team announced the latest training list of the national team. In this list, a total of 8 overseas players were selected. At the same time, the number of Chinese female footballers in the world is increasing, with Lu Yueyun joining Lokomotiv Moscow and Li Jiayue playing for Galatasaray. So, among the three countries of China, Japan and South Korea, which country has more players staying in the ocean?

We have statistics on players from all three East Asian countries in the women's top flight in Germany, England, France, Spain and the United States. Since only the above 5 well-known leagues are searched, the well-known Chinese women's football internationals such as Shen Mengyu, Li Jiayue and Shen Monroe will not be included in the statistics of this article.

1. Chinese women's football: 4 people

At present, in the above five leagues, there are a total of 4 Chinese players. Among them, Wang Shuang, the number one star of the national team, played for the Louisville Women's Football Team in the United States, which was the second time in her career to play for European and American teams. In the 2018-19 season, Wang Shuang performed well in Paris Saint-Germain Women's football. However, Wang Shuang has not made many appearances in the United States, and after joining the team in mid-August last year, she returned to China at the end of September to attend a series of events. For now, Wang Shuang is still a player in the Louisville women's team, and if she can stay with the team, she is expected to play more games in the new season.

Perhaps seeing the strength of Chinese players from Wang Shuang's success story, Paris Saint-Germain Women's team loaned Chinese women's international Li Mengwen from Jiangsu Wuxi Women's in August last year, and since then, another international Yang Lina has also joined on loan. In Paris, Li Mengwen has more opportunities to play, and Yang Lina has not yet played for the Levantelas Punellas Women's Football Team on loan to Spain. In this issue of the national team roster, both are on the list.

In addition, international Tang Jiali played for Madrid CFF Women, her second leg in Europe after Tottenham Hotspur Women. However, Tang Jiali has not played much in the Spanish Women's Football League, and this period of national team training, she and Wang Shuang will meet the team in China.

2. South Korean women's football: 4 men

The Korean women's team has not had many overseas players in recent years, and Ji Xiaoran, who played for Chelsea Women, has returned to South Korea to play. Among the three countries, China, Japan and South Korea, they rank the lowest in the world. In the above five leagues, there are four South Korean players, three of whom play in the English Women's Super League and one in Spain.

The 34-year-old plays for Tottenham Hotspur Women and has been with Europe since joining Norway's Alvarsnes Women in 2018 and is in her third season with Tottenham Hotspur Women. Despite being a veteran, Cho Chao-hyun represented South Korea in last year's Asian Cup and East Asian Cup, and she still has a place in the Korean women's team.

Brighton Women has two South Korean internationals, striker Lee Kim Min and midfielder Park Ye-eun. Among them, Li Jinmin is the main player of Brighton Women's football, who has scored 2 goals in the league this season, and she also played for Manchester City Women. Park Ye-eun, who joined Brighton Women in August last year, is yet to fully establish herself at the 25-year-old, making league appearances as substitutes.

The 30-year-old Lee Yong-joo is Tang Jiali's teammate in Madrid's CFF women's team, a high-looking midfielder who has played for South Korea women's football for many years. However, due to a cruciate ligament injury in the knee in the pre-season warm-up matches, Li Yongzhou has not played this season, and last season she made eight appearances for the Madrid CFF women's team, including seven starts.

3. Japan women's football: 13

The Japanese women's football team, which won the World Cup, is still strong, and many of the champions of 12 years ago are still working the field. For example, Yuki Nagasato, Mana Iwabuchi and Saki Kumagai, the former who will turn 36 this year and play for Red Star Chicago in the United States, who competed with Wang Shuang last season and scored twice in this game.

The latter two are relatively young, and Mana Iwabuchi recently went on loan from Arsenal Women to Tottenham Hotspur Women, which caused heated discussions; Sahi Kumagai is an absolute workhorse of Bayern Women, having helped Lyon Women win five Champions League and six Ligue 1 titles. Another champion member, Nahomi Kawasumi, plays for Gotham Women's New Jersey, which also includes her former national team teammate Kumi Yokoyama.

Japanese players currently playing in the English Women's Super League include Yui Hasegawa, who joined Manchester City Women this season, Hayashiho and Risa Shimizu, who joined West Ham United Women, and Fuka Nagano, who joined Liverpool Women from North Carolina Courage Women a week ago. Several people ranged in age from 23 to 26, all of whom were in the year of the fight.

In addition, Mitsu Ito of the Alaves women's football team, Jun Endo of the American Angeles City women's football team, and Kyokawa Mai of the Potsdam turbine women's football team are also within the statistical range. In the above five leagues, there are as many as 13 players from Japan, more than the number of China and South Korea combined.

Of course, in addition to the above five leagues, many female football players from China, Japan and South Korea also play overseas, and they are also worthy of respect. For example, Japanese international Nan Menghua, who plays for Roma women's football, Shen Monroe, Shen Mengyu, Chinese sisters of Celtic women's football, Shen Mengyu, and Zhang Linyan, who performed well in grasshopper women's football, showed the strength of Asian women's football players with their actual actions.

Recently, the number of women's football players from China has been increasing, and every official announcement is exciting. 2023 is the year of the Women's World Cup, if the Chinese women's football team can shine in the World Cup, I believe that more players will be observed and even signed by European high-level clubs, at that time, good news will continue to come, and the future of Chinese women's football will be more worth looking forward to.

(Supine Push-ups/Yin Chongzeng)