International match week: Five foreign national players from the Chinese Super League depart

Written by Han Bing The Chinese national team has no warm-up matches in September, but five foreign national players from the Chinese Super League will compete in international fixtures. Ngadeu (Beijing Guoan, Cameroon) and Asuque (Shanghai Shenhua, Equatorial Guinea) will take part in the African World Cup qualifiers, Alimi (Dalian Yifang) will play for North Macedonia, and Burcă (Yunnan Yukun) and Mitriță (Zhejiang) will represent Romania in the European World Cup qualifiers. Among these five foreign national players, Asuque, Burcă, and Mitriță have just joined the Chinese Super League through their second transfers.

Mitriță and Burcă joined the Chinese Super League during the summer transfer window, both performing excellently at their new clubs. As regulars for Romania in recent years, they were unsurprisingly included again in the September squad by coach Lucescu. The 32-year-old Yunnan Yukun center-back Burcă has played in Asia for two years, previously featuring in Saudi Arabia and Qatar leagues. Since recovering from a serious knee injury in 2021, he has been a key figure in Romania's defense, and playing in Asia has not affected his national team status. Mitriță made his national team debut in March 2018 but was absent from the squad for two years between 2022 and summer 2024. He returned to the national team as a substitute during the UEFA Nations League group stage last September. Lucescu holds no bias against players competing in Asia, which benefits Mitriță’s future selections.

Asuque from Shanghai Shenhua also joined the Chinese Super League through a second transfer from Europe. Equatorial Guinea is a weaker African team; although it can select enough players from European leagues for its roster, most do not play in top-tier leagues. Before joining Shenhua, Asuque was one of the few Equatorial Guinea players to establish himself in a top European league. In fact, he only became a mainstay in the national team last September. Among the 25-man squad for Equatorial Guinea’s match days, besides Asuque, defender Garnett, who recently joined the Indonesian league, also comes from an Asian league.

Alimi of North Macedonia has just completed two years as a national player and has been a key starter since June last year. After joining Dalian Yifang earlier this year, he was selected as usual for the March international window but saw reduced playing time. He missed the June international matches due to a knee sprain in May but returned to a starting role at Yifang after recovery in late June, making his September national team call-up natural.

Ngadeu has a longer national team career than the other four foreign players, debuting as a starter in September 2016. Like Mitriță, he experienced a low period without national team call-ups between 2022 and 2024. He returned to the national team in June last year after nearly two years and immediately reclaimed a starting spot. However, he was unexpectedly left out in June this year. After getting injured during training in early August, he fortunately recovered in time and was once again included in the squad by coach Blessé.

There are also other “near-current” national players in the Chinese Super League. Su Zu (Changchun Yatai, Zambia) and Kallon (Chengdu Rongcheng, Sierra Leone) were last called up in November last year, while Beijing Guoan’s Serbian center-back Spajić was last included in the national team in June last year. Tsaraishvili of Shandong Taishan has not been called up to Georgia’s national team for three years, and Fabio of Beijing Guoan last appeared for Angola in September 2021. Compared to the glory days of the “golden era” when over ten foreign national players frequently appeared in international windows, the current Chinese Super League has returned to a more rational recruitment level, but the number of foreign national players has started to rebound from the bottom.