September 10: Wu Lei Misses Out as China National Team Squad Surprises; Chengdu Rongcheng Leads with Seven First-Time Call-Ups

At 6 p.m. on September 8, there was one line in the Football Association's 30-player training squad that stood apart from all the others.

Tsinghua University High School Affiliated School: Zhao Songyuan.

He is 17 years old, 1.94 meters tall, and plays as a center forward. He has never been registered with any professional club and has not played a single match in the China Champions League, China League Two, China League One, or the Chinese Super League. His current identity is a high school student.

In the same squad, Wu Lei, 35 years old and with 101 appearances for the national team, was absent.

These are not two things being mentioned together artificially. They are two events that happened in the same announcement.

The 30 players come from 13 Chinese Super League clubs plus Tsinghua High School. Chengdu Rongcheng provided seven: Liu Dianzuo, Han Pengfei, Wei Shihao, Wang Ziming, Li Yang, Yang Mingyang, and Jian Tao. Shandong Taishan provided four, Shanghai Port, Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, and Zhejiang each provided three, Henan provided two, while Shenhua, Guoan, Yunnan Yukun, West Coast, Yingbo, Xinpengcheng, and Tonglianglong each provided one. Liaoning Tieren, Wuhan Three Towns, and Qingdao Hainiu had no players selected; these three teams ranked 13th, 15th, and last respectively in the table.

The previous three training camps had 26 players, but this time the number expanded to 30. The expansion was not because more players were wanted, but because places had opened up.

Among the 11 players who left, eight players including Yang Xi, Zhu Chenjie, Baihelamu, Zhang Yuning, Liu Haofan, Wang Yudong, Li Hao, and Mao Weijie joined Antonio's Asian Games team. Zhu Chenjie, Zhang Yuning, and Wu Xi were the squad's over-age players. Lin Liangming and Zhu Pengyu were injured. The only player removed purely because of competitive form throughout was Wu Lei.

Shao Jiayi filled the remaining spots with 14 new faces. Wang Ziming, Gao Zhunyi, Chen Pu, Tao Qianglong, Li Yang, and Yang Mingyang returned; Li Yang and Yang Mingyang have not yet played an international A-level match. Zhang Aihui, Wang Gengrui, Bunyamin, Zhong Yihao, Yang Mingrui, Du Yuezheng, and Zhao Songyuan were selected for the first time.

Rongcheng's seven players were not added just to make up numbers. After 26 CSL rounds, Rongcheng had 15 wins, 7 draws, and 4 losses for 52 points, leading second place by 12 points, scoring 51 goals and conceding 30, with the fewest goals allowed in the league. Goalkeepers Liu Dianzuo and Jian Tao, center-backs Han Pengfei and Li Yang, midfielders Wei Shihao and Yang Mingyang, and forward Wang Ziming were called up as a complete spine. Along with Hu Hetao, He Yiran, Mutalifu, and Baihelamu previously taken by the Asian Games team, the club sent 11 players away at once.

League second-place Dalian Yingbo had only one player selected, 19-year-old Yang Mingrui. Fourth-place Yunnan Yukun also had only one, 18-year-old Bunyamin. Seventh-place Shanghai Port had three instead: Yan Junling, Jiang Guangtai, and Wei Zhen.

Wu Lei's year can be clearly shown by the numbers. He made 22 CSL appearances, started three times, played 529 minutes, scored four goals and provided one assist, with 24 shots, seven shots on target, and 15 offsides — his offsides were more than double his shots on target. He will turn 35 in November and has undergone two knee surgeries.

On August 23 against Qingdao Hainiu, he started and scored twice, ending a 161-day league goal drought. Five days later against Shenzhen Xinpengcheng, he came on in the 65th minute and in the 81st minute sent a cross from the byline while falling to the ground, with 20-year-old Kuai Jiwen scoring to record his first CSL goal. Shanghai Port won all nine points from their previous three matches, and Wu directly contributed to six of those points. On September 5 against Beijing Guoan at home, he replaced Leonardo in the 71st minute and had a close-range shot saved by Hou Sen in the 76th minute before the match ended 0-0.

His instincts remain, but his body cannot provide 90 minutes anymore. This was his own statement: "Being able to start consecutively now, including controlling injuries after matches, makes me satisfied." Behind those words was the fact that before last year he could not even secure starting opportunities.

In the three training camps in May this year, Wu Lei remained on the list because the association and coaching staff had a clear consideration — helping him complete 100 national team appearances. In June, the milestone was achieved. In this September camp, that reason was gone.

This omission basically means he is unlikely to make the January 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

The reason Zhao Songyuan's line stands out is that he bypassed the entire usual pathway. Other young players, no matter how young, belong to clubs: Wang Gengrui belongs to Qingdao West Coast, Bunyamin belongs to Yunnan Yukun, Yang Mingrui belongs to Dalian Yingbo, and Du Yuezheng belongs to Chongqing Tonglianglong. Only Zhao has a school listed as his affiliation.

He crossed this barrier through performances. In the November 2025 U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, he scored 11 goals in five matches and won the tournament's top scorer award. He scored six goals in one match against Brunei, setting a record for individual goals in a single match in China's youth national team history, and came on against Timor-Leste to complete a headed hat-trick in 30 minutes. At the U17 Asian Cup finals, he won and converted a penalty in the decisive stage, helping China qualify for the U17 World Cup. At this August's Shanghai Future Star Cup, he scored after a 1v4 dribble against Arsenal U17 and, after coming on against Bayer Leverkusen, assisted and scored within one minute. Bayer Leverkusen U17 coach Brock said after the match that he had outstanding awareness, comprehensive skills, and could compete in Europe.

Chinese Football Association chairman Song Kai wrote a letter to him and his parents on May 25, congratulating his performance at the U17 Asian Cup. The letter mentioned balancing training and studies and achieving progress in competition and growth, while encouraging him to go abroad and improve in Europe.

Opposing views are also specific. The intensity of school leagues and youth-level competitions is separated from adult professional football by a very real gap. A 17-year-old minor entering an adult national team training camp with no professional experience is an extreme case wherever it is viewed. Beijing Youth Daily Sports reported that he is the first player since Chinese football's professional era to enter an adult national team training camp as a currently enrolled high school student.

The real change brought by this call-up is not about Zhao Songyuan himself, but about the entry pathway — the national team's player selection scope has moved one step from people with professional experience toward the school system.

The squad's age structure has been split. There are 11 players aged 30 or above. Among goalkeepers, Yan Junling is 35 and Liu Dianzuo is 36, while substitutes Jian Tao and Yan Bingliang have no A-level appearances. On the other side, there are 10 players under 25, including six born after 2005 and four born after 2007: Yang Mingrui in April 2007, Bunyamin in April 2008, Wang Gengrui in September 2008, and Zhao Songyuan in April 2009. The middle age group is the thinnest.

The positional distribution is also somewhat uneven. By squad groups, there are four goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 13 midfielders, and three forwards. Xie Wenneng was used as a wide midfielder by Han Peng and Su Maozhen's coaching staff at Shandong Taishan, but was placed in the defender group by Shao Jiayi.

Shao Jiayi officially took charge on November 5, 2025. The coaching staff follows a structure of Chinese head coach with foreign support; German coach Maurer serves as first assistant, handling tactics and video analysis, while former internationals Yang Zhi and Zhou Ting work as assistant coaches and trainers. His team has played six A-level matches, with three wins, two draws, and one loss. He won his debut 3-0 against Curacao on March 27. He explained why he was willing to use such young players: "I have brought this group of players through the youth national teams, and I know their growth paths very well."

China's national team is currently ranked around 93rd in the world and 14th in Asia.

The training camp begins on September 12, first in Wuhan and then Chongqing, ending on October 7. On the September 12 reporting day in Wuhan, players from Shenhua, Shanghai Port, and Guoan will join later because of AFC Champions League matches, while Zhejiang, Henan, and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger will also arrive later due to CSL postponed fixtures.

From September 24 to October 6, four warm-up matches will be held in Chongqing: Palestine, New Zealand, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. New Zealand is a participant in the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the Asian Cup finals, China will be grouped with Iran, Syria, and Kyrgyzstan.

After reporting to the camp, Zhao Songyuan still has to return to Tsinghua High School for classes.