The Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced on Wednesday that 45-year-old Shao Jiayi has been appointed as the new head coach of China's men's national football team.

File photo of Shao Jiayi. [photo:xinhua]

Born in 1980, Shao represented China at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan and played for several seasons in the German Bundesliga. After retiring, he once served as assistant coach of the national team and worked with various Chinese youth national teams as team leader and assistant coach.

Shao took charge of Chinese Super League (CSL) side Qingdao West Coast in July 2024. This season, the team currently sits ninth in the CSL with nine wins, ten draws and ten losses.

"The CFA released a public notice on September 5, 2025, to recruit a new head coach for the national men's team. Several qualified Chinese and foreign candidates entered the preliminary selection stage," the CFA said in a statement.

"Taking into full consideration the experience and lessons of previous national team coach selections, the current situation and level of Chinese men's football, the long-term development of the national team, as well as the qualities and coaching abilities of the candidates and expert opinions, the CFA, after careful deliberation, decided to appoint Shao Jiayi as the head coach of China's men's national football team," the statement added.

According to the public notice issued by the CFA in September, the new head coach must meet seven requirements, including having prior experience as head coach in major international tournaments or top professional leagues in Europe or Asia, and being under 60 years old in principle.