FIFA recently held a competition committee meeting to formally finalize the date and tiering principles for the 2018 World Cup draw, and also determined the quota allocation plan for each continent in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics football competition.

According to FIFA's 2020 plan, if the Chinese men's football team wants to advance to the Tokyo Olympics, it must be among the top three in Asia in the 2019 Asian qualifiers.

Olympic Games: 16 men’s football teams and 12 women’s football teams

According to the latest plan announced by FIFA, 16 teams will participate in the men’s football competition of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. , 12 teams participated in the women's football competition.

The specific allocation of the 16 quotas for the men’s football team is: 4 in Asia (including host Japan), 4 in Europe, 3 in Africa, 2 in North, Central and Caribbean, 2 in South America, and 1 in Oceania. seats.

Comparing the past three Olympic men’s football competitions, the quotas in the Asian region have not changed much.

The Asian quota for the Tokyo Olympics Men’s Football Tournament is actually the same as in 2008. Japan, as the host, automatically qualified for the finals. The remaining three seats need to be determined by the 2020 Asian U-23 Championship (this event will be held every year). It is held every two years, and the finals held one year before the Olympic Games are determined as the Olympic qualifying competition.

As for the women’s football competition in the Tokyo Olympics, FIFA’s specific allocation of 12 participating places is: 3 places in Asia (including host Japan), 3 places in Europe, 2 places in North, Central and Caribbean, and South America. Africa and Africa have 1.5 seats each and Oceania has 1 seat (South America and Africa need to play play-offs).

This quota remains the same as that of the last Olympic Games, which means that if the Chinese women's football team wants to enter the Tokyo Olympics, it must be in the top two in the 2020 Asian qualifying finals.

It is difficult for the Olympic team to break through

In contrast, the Chinese women's football team returned to the Olympics last year as the second-placed team in Asia. However, since the Chinese men's football team reached the Olympic finals as the host nation in 2008, it has missed the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games in a row.

The players of the Chinese Olympic team who will participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were born after January 1, 1997.

In the U19 Asian Youth Championship held last year, the 1997 National Youth Team only scored 1 point in the group stage and was eliminated as the last place in the group. This fully proves that China's youth training of the same age group has fallen behind in Asia, and it will be very difficult to break through in the qualifiers two years later.

Players in the 1997 age group who currently have more opportunities to play in the Chinese Super League include R&F’s Huang Zhengyu, SIPG’s Wei Zhen, Shenhua midfielder Cong Zhen, Tianjin’s Yang Liyu, Luneng’s Guo Tianyu, Jian Hu Jinghang from the industry, Nan Song from Lifan, Cao Yongjing from the Chinese League One team Beijing Renhe, and overseas players include Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming.

But they got the chance to play more because of the U23 New Deal, and Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming are not the main players overseas.

In addition, although the 97th National Olympics began to be formed this year, it still has not finalized a head coach.

According to the arrangements of the Chinese Football Association, the Tokyo Olympic selection team will participate in the Southwest League of the fourth-tier German league this winter. It is still unknown how much impact such a game will have on them.

Look at the rankings of the top 32 teams in the World Cup

FIFA also announced the draw rules for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The teams in the World Cup group stage will be ranked according to the results in October this year. Determined by world ranking.

The principle of the top 32 draw of the 2016 Brazil World Cup is also based on the World Cup rankings.

The highest-ranked 7 teams plus the host Brazil are listed as the first-tier seed teams, the second-tier teams are 5 African teams and 2 South American teams, and the third-tier teams are 4 There are Asian teams and 4 Central and North American teams, and the fourth pot is 9 European teams.

The draw guarantees that each group will have a maximum of 2 European teams, and other teams from the same continent cannot be in the same group.

The draw ceremony for the Russian World Cup will be held on December 1 this year. The principle of grading still depends on the international rankings. FIFA will use the world rankings announced on October 16, 2017 as the standard.

However, except for the first level, the other three levels will be divided completely according to the world rankings, and there will no longer be restrictions on continents.

The only relevant draw restriction is that the principle of avoiding draws in the same group is still adopted. Except for European teams, there will be no teams from the same continent in the same group.