China unveils 27-man roster for World Cup qualifiers

BEIJING, Aug. 21(Xinhua) -- China men's national team announced a 27-player roster on Wednesday for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

The Chinese team head coach Branko Ivankovic has called up a full-strength squad, including star forward Wu Lei as well as three naturalized players Jiang Guangtai, A Lan and Fei Nanduo.

24-year-old Shanghai Shenhua midfielder Wang Haijian was the only newcomer on the team, while Wei Shihao hasn't been included in the list due to his four-game suspension after committing a violent foul in the league.

In the final stage of World Cup Asian qualifiers, China has been drawn into Group C along with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia. The top two teams of the group will directly qualify for the World Cup, while the third and fourth-placed teams can enter a play-off tournament.

China is set to play its opening match against Japan away on September 5, and then meet with Saudi Arabia on September 10 at home in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province.

The 27-man roster is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Bao Yaxiong, Liu Dianzuo, Wang Dalei, Yan Junling;

Defenders: Gao Zhunyi, Han Pengfei, Jiang Guangtai, Jiang Shenglong, Li Lei, Liu Yang, Wei Zhen, Yang Zexiang, Zhu Chenjie;

Midfielders: Cheng Jin, Huang Zhengyu, Li Yuanyi, Wang Haijian, Wang Shangyuan, Xie Pengfei, Xie Weneng, Xu Haoyang;

Forwards: A Lan, Behram Abduweli, Fei Nanduo, Lin Liangming, Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning.