China finish as runners-up at U-17 Asian Cup

On May 22, the final of the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup took place at King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia, with China U17 facing Japan U17. 

In the first half, Tafuku Satomi, Kakeru Saito, and Maki Kitahara each scored for Japan to give their side a three-goal lead. In the second half, Shuai Weihao assisted Wan Xiang to pull one back for China, while substitute Zhao Songyuan won and converted a penalty to score another goal. In the end, China suffered a narrow 2–3 defeat to Japan and missed out on the title.

Nevertheless, this marked China’s best result in the past ten editions of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup. The team reached the final for the first time in 22 years, having last won the tournament in 2004 with a 1–0 victory over North Korea. As runners-up this time, China will compete in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in November, marking the return of China’s U17 national team to the tournament after a 21-year absence.

After the match, the Chinese team’s Japanese head coach Bin Ukishima said: “I believe the journey the players went through to reach the semi-finals and final has been extremely significant for Chinese football. Across these six matches, we could clearly see their growth and that is something I want to commend them for. ”