Reporter Wang Wei reporting from Zhaoqing At 2 PM on January 4th, the Chinese men’s national football team head coach Shao Jiayi held a media briefing at the Sheraton Hotel in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. Shao took 25 minutes to present his primary mission since taking office — to restore confidence to the national team: “We need to believe in ourselves and regain our confidence!”

Key point: Goals

The conference began at 2 PM on January 4th, with Shao Jiayi arriving at 1:58 PM. Upon sitting down, he was greeted with applause from over 30 media outlets nationwide. “I sincerely thank everyone for coming all the way to Zhaoqing for this meeting,” Shao said. “When I learned I would become the head coach of the Chinese team, I felt both excited and nervous. Excited because becoming the national team coach is the goal and dream of every professional coach. Nervous because I fully understand the responsibility on my shoulders. It’s been more than two months since the official announcement, and I constantly feel an urgency to complete the task. During this time, I realized that becoming the national team coach is only part of the dream and goal; truly showing the fighting spirit and results that satisfy the Chinese people and realizing their long-held dream is the real goal for me and my team.”

Regarding dreams, Shao Jiayi was very specific: “As players, representing the country and playing in the World Cup is the highest dream. As a coach, it’s the same — every coach dreams of coaching in the World Cup. We clearly understand the current environment and difficulties Chinese football faces. We must work steadily, building the national team’s foundation step by step with hard work and humility. I hope everyone supports me and the national team, offering us more encouragement and understanding.”

Key point: Challenges

This was Shao Jiayi’s first media conference since becoming the national team head coach. After sharing his goals, he also spoke about the challenges and difficulties ahead. Shao said, “Regarding challenges, we need to believe in ourselves and regain confidence. This requires hard training and thorough preparation. Only through truly high-quality matches can we earn confidence and genuinely believe in ourselves. The team’s most important task is to help players and the squad regain confidence, and I am confident in this. When I returned to Guoan in 2012, I firmly believed many players had the ability to play in one of the top five European leagues. At that time, they thought I was just saying that, but it was my true belief. Now, I still think many players have the potential to play in Europe.”

In Shao Jiayi’s view, “regaining confidence” is the most crucial task at this stage: “This is not an empty phrase. We need rigorous training, high-quality preparation, and matches to gradually rebuild confidence.” Shao added that Chinese football has been well aware of international football’s development trends in recent years, so “we will definitely strive to develop in line with advanced European football, continuously learning. Though there is a gap in ability, football is a team sport, and we will rely on the team to help the squad improve.”

Key point: Player selection

How Shao Jiayi selects national players is a major focus for the public. On this, Shao said, “The criteria for selecting players for the national team must be open and dynamic. For example, Podolski was a substitute at Bayern but a key player for the German national team — this is rare. In most cases, national players must perform excellently and consistently in the league. Li Yang, Lv Zhuoyi, and Yan Bingliang all delivered stable and outstanding performances this past year, fully meeting national team requirements. This will definitely remain the main standard in the future — league performance is the most important factor.”

Regarding the transition between generations, Shao also shared his views: “The players selected for this national team all meet the team’s standards. Many qualified players from the U23 squad are also part of the broader national team pool. I have clearly told the players they were selected because of their excellent league performances over the past year. Transitioning between generations is normal — I came from the older generation myself — but we should not do it just for the sake of transition. Cristiano Ronaldo still scores at 40, Messi won the World Cup at 35, Mbappé won the World Cup at 18. So age cannot be a rigid criterion. I don’t focus on young or old, but on players’ performance in matches and their role within the team. That is what a national team player should have.”

Talking about the new national team’s first training camp, Shao Jiayi explained: “This training session is a preparation period and an important phase for all clubs. First, we need to ensure players’ physical strength and fitness reserves. We have responsibilities toward both the players and their clubs. This training will be tough; I have already warned the players to be mentally prepared. We will arrange training matches domestically and several friendlies abroad, though the details are not finalized yet. These matches will serve as tests of fitness reserves, allowing us to identify problems and correct them promptly.”